ID: 1726
Presenting Author: Kevin Hanna
Session: 592 - Streamlining IA in an era of global uncertainty
Status: pending
This presentation calls for rethinking Canada’s assessment systems through meaningful Indigenous engagement, risk-based assessment, accountability, and AI innovation.
This presentation argues that Canada’s regulatory assessment and permitting frameworks for resource development require more than procedural streamlining—they demand structural transformation. Efforts to improve efficiency through stricter timelines, reduced duplication, and digital tools have delivered limited success because they fail to address deeper systemic challenges. The central premise is that meaningful and effective Indigenous engagement is the single most critical determinant of regulatory success. Engagement must be proactive, initiated early, relationship-based, and embedded across the entire project lifecycle to build trust, advance reconciliation, and deliver equitable outcomes. This approach advances ten principles for an outcome-driven system grounded in collaboration, proportionality, and accountability. These include eliminating redundancy; applying risk-based and tiered assessments to align review depth with project complexity; strengthening and strategically focusing regulatory capacity; and ensuring shared accountability for delays. Strategic resource and land-use planning, combined with continuous innovation through data integration and AI, can enhance both efficiency and transparency. Collectively, these reforms aim to replace reactive, fragmented processes with adaptive systems rooted in partnership, trust, and risk management. By shifting from compliance-driven to purpose-driven regulation, Canada can create a framework that supports timely, credible decisions and environmental integrity.
Kevin Hanna, a UBC Earth Sciences faculty member and Centre for Environmental Assessment Research Director, works in environmental assessment, mining, and energy systems.