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Concerned about Draft Co-operation Agreement - negative effects on wildlife, land, water, and Indigenous Peoples

To whom it may concern,

As an Albertan, I am deeply disappointed about the recent draft Co-operation Agreement between Alberta and Canada on Environmental and Impact Assessment.

Large resource and infrastructure projects pose considerable risks to lands and waters that impact key areas of jurisdiction and responsibility of the Government of Canada.

I have significant concerns about the federal government downloading its responsibilities to a provincial regulatory system that is not designed to meaningfully enforce federal legislation or address federal interests and is not trusted by the public. If Alberta defines the scope of a project narrowly, or downplays certain risks, the entire process may overlook, ignore, or downplay important environmental and community impacts.

Accountable, transparent, and meaningful engagement of the public is necessary throughout the entire regulatory process. This draft agreement threatens to weaken, and in some cases potentially eliminate, the opportunity for Albertans to have a say in the projects that impact our quality of life and our livelihoods. This is unacceptable.

Importantly the Agreement also states that Alberta “views UNDRIP as non-binding.” This raises significant questions on whether the AER will require meaningful consultation and reflect input and involvement of Indigenous peoples in project decisions

We must have an impact assessment process that encourages participation, restores independent oversight, embeds climate and cumulative‑effects science, respects Indigenous Peoples and their Rights, increases transparency, and ensures strong, enforceable, and evidence-based standards.

Sincerely,

Lucy Poley, PhD Geography

Alberta Environment is part of Canada's Environment

Just at a time when the Alberta government is abandoning the protection of the environment to the greed of industry, we need the Federal government to play their very important and critical role in protection of the environment. Every single province requires the balance of federal oversight if we are to maintain consistent and meaningful protections across the whole of the country. Please, Federal government, do not turn away from your responsibilities of permitting, regulating and monitoring our environment.

Improving Clarity and Ensuring Credibility

ClarityThe cooperation Agreement will be read my many who are not constitutional scholars. For communications purposes it should be clear on the constitutional underpinnings requiring provincial governments and Canada to work together on approving major projects and avoiding unacceptable environmental harm.On clarity, the draft Agreement falls short. It lays out areas of Alberta’s jurisdiction but not areas under the jurisdiction of Canada and thus could be interpreted as accepting that only Alberta has relevant areas of jurisdiction. Thus, it does not explain the need for Alberta and Canada to work together.It should clearly spell out the relevant jurisdictional provisions for…

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