This week, an independent “Expert Panel” appointed by the federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change launched its public review of federal environmental assessment processes.

The participation of environmental organizations in the review process is essential in ensuring that the Expert Panel hears the full story on how EA has gone off track and what needs to be done to build stronger, fairer environmental assessment and decision-making in Canada.

There is a lot of ground to cover – both literally and figuratively – in a short period of time, so we are reaching out to the regional networks now to ask for your help mobilizing, educating and assisting the public – through your network members – in participating in the review.

The Panel began its public consultations this week in Saskatoon and will continue its travelling road-show until mid-December. You can see the full calendar of public events, information about registration, and opportunities for online and snail-mail engagement, here: http://eareview-examenee.ca.

The Expert Panel sessions will be in St. John’s on Wednesday, October 5th, with public presentations to the Expert Panel on from 1:00-5:00 PM and a workshop for the public from 6:30-10:00 PM. Register here for the public presentation and here for the public workshop.

Presentations to the Panel from Indigenous people and organizations will be in Happy Valley-Goose Bay on Friday, October 7th from 9:00 AM-5:00 PM, with a “dialogue” session with Indigenous people the evening before (October 6th) from 7:00-10:00 PM. Register to do a presentation here and for the dialogue sessions register here.

For information about leading-edge environmental assessment, check out West Coast Environmental Law’s “12 Pillars of a Next-Generation Environmental Assessment Regime,” based on the consensus of 30 of Canada’s leading experts on EA.