Join us: April 26, 2021

• 1:00 pm- 2:30 pm ET

Watch the Webinar Recording HERE

Confirmed panelists:

• Peter Croal (Environmental Consultant https://ca.linkedin.com/in/peter-croal-29652a12);

• Cheryl Chetkiewicz (Conservation Biologist, Wildlife Conservation Society);

• Martin Olszynski, University of Calgary, Faculty of Law);

• Jackie Lerner (Director, EIA and Community Engagement, SNC-Lavalin)

Description 

The global COVID-19 pandemic has had multiple repercussions for Impact Assessment (IA) processes in Canada and elsewhere. After more than a year, it’s time to take stock and look forward. For example, the economic challenges facing resource development sectors during the pandemic have led to calls on governments to lessen responsibilities for environmental monitoring that underpin that information basis needed for IA. Further, stakeholder engagement necessary for robust consultation processes in IA in some cases have had to be curtailed or modified. What are the impacts of such pandemic-related pressures on IA, and what will be their legacy going forward in Canada?

This panel, hosted by the NEDIA project, brings together IA practitioners and scholars who offer a variety of perspectives that can inform a pro-active response to this and future pandemics for the sake of robust IA. Guiding questions are:

• How has the pandemic affected our abilities to address the full spectrum of impacts that Canada’s new IA Act urges? 

• What are the potential policy and legal implications of interim measures that have been introduced into IA procedures in response to the pandemic? 

• Are there broader lessons that the pandemic has generated for future IA processes? 

Our four panelists from across Canada will offer a short presentation (ca. 10 minutes), offering their personal perspectives on these, followed by a chance for Q&A and discussion open to all participants.

The session will be recorded and available after the event.

Hosts: Ian G. Stewart, University of King’s College and Debra J. Davidson, University of Alberta, co-Directors of the SSHRC Partnership Develop Project, Advancing Impact Assessment for Canada’s Socio-ecological Systems.

Want to get a head start on the topic we will be discussing? Check out this relevant article: Environmental Regulation and the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review of Regulator Response in Canada

For an international perspective, see HERE