This HillStudy is the second of a two-part examination of how the Supreme Court of Canada (the Supreme Court or the Court) has interpreted federal environmental law in light of Canada’s constitutional division of powers. It is a companion piece to the HillStudy entitled The Constitution and Carbon Pricing, which reviews the legal challenges to the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act in References re Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act.
The focus of this paper is the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Reference re Impact Assessment Act, which sets out a scheme for determining whether specified major natural resource and infrastructure projects require an impact assessment and, if so, the components of that impact assessment.
Together, these two HillStudies explore two Supreme Court decisions on environmental law. Each decision was arrived at through a different approach, and each offers insight into what is and is not constitutionally acceptable, and why. Both are significant decisions – the decision in the Reference re Impact Assessment Act was the Court’s most substantial examination of federal authority over environmental assessment in 30 years – and both cases are likely to shape the evolution of future environmental legislation at the federal and provincial levels for years to come.
Read the full text of the HillStudy: The Constitution and the Impact Assessment Act
By San N.K. Banks, Library of Parliament