Skip to the beginning of the images gallery

A Guide to Canada’s Impact Assessment Act, 2025 Edition

Though not everything in the Impact Assessment Act is new, this legislation introduces substantive changes that broaden the scope of all federal assessments. Turn to this publication to gain a thorough understanding of the IAA. Formerly published as Guide to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.

Langue de publication: English

Publié: 30 octobre 2025

Éditeur: LexisNexis Canada

Format du produit	Détails	Qté
Livre 130,00 $	En inventaire ISBN: 9780433536987	Qté:

Softcover | 888 pages | Biennial Publication

Détails des produits

The federal Impact Assessment Act (IAA) which came into force on August 28, 2019, represents a fundamental shift in federal environmental assessment in Canada. The move from environmental assessment to impact assessment has resulted in a need for guidance on how the new legislation differs from the old and the ramifications of those differences. That’s what A Guide to Canada’s Impact Assessment Act, 2025 Edition provides.

Practical and Informative
Written by expert environmental lawyer, Rodney Northey, A Guide to Canada’s Impact Assessment Act, 2025 Edition offers valuable insight into the new Act as well as a detailed review of each of the processes that now govern impact assessment. In particular, practitioners of impact assessment and environmental, resources and infrastructure law will benefit from:

The overview of the IAA, including the most relevant features
Discussion of the principal factors for assessments and decision-making
Comprehensive discussion and analysis of the steps in the assessment process
The full text of the IAA and the accompanying regulations

What's New in the 2025 Edition

Analysis of the 2023 decision, Reference re Impact Assessment Act, where the Supreme Court of Canada declared a significant portion of the IAA unconstitutional
Inclusion of the 2024 amendments to the IAA in response to Reference re Impact Assessment Act
Discussion of the new public interest test
Analysis of the shift from “environmental assessment” to “impact assessment”
Updates to the IAA’s regulations

A Guide to Canada’s Impact Assessment Act, 2025 Edition proves indispensable to:

Environmental consultants who are responsible for assessing the significance of environmental effects under IAA and numerous environmental regimes across Canada
Environmental, energy, aboriginal law, and natural resources lawyers in public and private practice who advise clients on IAA issues and the significance of effects in numerous legal contexts
Management and in-house counsel in the energy, mining and natural resources sectors who seek to comply with IAA and design projects to avoid or minimize significant environmental effects
Regulatory personnel who administer IAA and other federal, provincial, territorial and self-government regimes that focus on the significance of environmental effects
Teachers and advanced environmental studies students interested in environmental assessment inside and outside Canada

Table des matières

View the table of contents

Part 1: Introduction to the IAA
§1.01 Overview
§1.02 Basic Features
§1.03 Interpreting the IAA
§1.04 Timing of Impact Assessments
§1.05 Enforcement

Part 2: Principal Factors for Assessments and Decision Making
§2.01 Effects
§2.02 Significance of Adverse Effects
§2.03 Mitigation of Effects
§2.04 Rights, Knowledge, and Interests of Indigenous Peoples
§2.05 Sustainability
§2.06 Climate Change

Part 3: Triggering Impact Assessment
§3.01 Identifying a Designated Project
§3.02 Planning Phase
§3.03 Decision Whether to Require Impact Assessment

Part 4: Steps in the Assessment Process
§4.01 Scope of the Designated Project
§4.02 Establishing and Operating the Public Registry
§4.03 Coordination and Cooperation with Jurisdictions
§4.04 Input from Expert Federal Authorities
§4.05 Agency-Led Impact Assessments
§4.06 Review Panels

Part 5: Factors Specific to Impact Assessments
§5.01 Factors of Assessment
§5.02 Cumulative Effects
§5.03 Need for the Designated Project
§5.04 Alternatives
§5.05 Public Comments and Engagement

Part 6: Decisions on Impact Assessments
§6.01 Decisions on Impact Assessments

Part 7: Other IAA Regulatory Processes
§7.01 Determinations for Projects on Federal Lands or Outside Canada
§7.02 Regional Assessments
§7.03 Strategic Assessments

Impact Assessment Act and Regulations
Impact Assessment Act, S.C. 2019, c.28, s.1
Information and management of time limits regulations, SOR/2019-283
Physical activities regulations, SOR/2019-285
Designated classes of projects order, SOR/2019-323

AUTEURS À LA UNE

Rodney Northey

Rod Northey, M.A., LL.M., is a partner in the Toronto office of Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP within the firm’s national and international practice groups for environmental law. Rod’s practice focuses on environmental approvals, hearings and appeals for proponents, municipalities, and Indigenous governments. Rod has been in private practice since 1990 and is certified by the Law Society of Ontario as a specialist in environmental law. Rod has been legal counsel for dozens of major environmental & planning tribunal hearings and court cases in the Federal and Ontario courts.

From August 2016 to April 2017, Rod was a member of the four-person expert panel appointed by the federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change to review and propose reforms to federal environmental assessment processes. This panel produced the report, Building Common Ground: A New Vision for Impact Assessment in Canada, which led to the current federal Impact Assessment Act. From May 2016 to February 2018, Rod was a member of a three-person advisory panel appointed by the Ontario Minister of Transportation to review the environmental assessment for the proposed Highway 413 in the western part of the Greater Toronto Area. This panel’s report was released in February 2018. Rod was a member of Ontario’s 2004 Task Force to establish its Greenbelt and a member of the Executive Panel to reform Ontario environmental assessment in 2004-2005.

Rod is adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall Law School for an LL.M. course on environmental protection. He has taught similar courses to law and planning students at multiple Ontario universities.

Voir tous les livres par Rodney Northey (1)

A Guide to Canada’s Impact Assessment Act, 2025 Edition

AUTEURS À LA UNE

Rodney Northey

À PROPOS DE LEXISNEXIS

PRODUITS ET SERVICES

SUIVEZ-NOUS

PAIEMENTS

CONTACTEZ LE SERVICE COMMERCIAL

CONTACTEZ LE SERVICE À LA CLIENTÈLE