The province is proposing to…

The province is proposing to eliminate the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment (MCEA), replacing it with a constrained list of projects that will be subject to a new, streamlined Municipal Project Assessment Process (MPAP). Any projects not listed in that constrained list will no longer be subject to the Environmental Assessment Act (EAA) insofar as they do not implicate archaeological concerns and/or are conducted by private developers.

The proposed changes introduce significant risk to private and municipal development projects by foregoing many of the technical studies that help identify constraints and avoid impacts that could carry significant liability for proponents. For example, most projects will no longer require cultural heritage studies. These studies identify and help mitigate impacts to protected heritage properties (national, provincial, municipal). If projects proceed without awareness of these properties they could irreparably damage important historic buildings or heritage landscapes and potentially be subject to significant fines and public outcry. These obligations and protections persist through the Ontario Heritage Act and other legislation despite their associated studies' removal from EAA processes.
Exempting private developers from archaeological assessment triggers for certain types of projects will also lead to unintentional impacts to known and as yet undiscovered archaeological sites. This proposal increases the likelihood that human remains will be unintentionally disturbed leading to costly delays and inciting confrontation with Indigenous communities. The Indigenous consultation required through the MCEA will also not be fully recreated in the proposed approach, resulting in provincial liability for failing to meet the Duty to Consult and infringements on Indigenous rights and interests.

Operationally, the proposed Archaeological Assessment Process is also not possible within the current heritage framework. The information needed to complete the preliminary screening is currently not available to those who would presumably be undertaking the screening (e.g., municipalities and developers). The concentration of Indigenous engagement to archaeology alone will also result in a broader suite of Duty to Consult obligations (e.g., rights impacts, accommodations, etc.) being effected through the archaeological process which is not currently equipped to address these considerations.

In short, the proposed removal of MCEAs has the potential to create more problems than it is resolving. In doing so, some of our province's irreplaceable natural and cultural heritage will be lost with proponents, the province, and the public left to pickup the pieces and assign blame. Further, it places projects and developers in a space where they are taking on additional risks to project that might be encountered during the construction phases of projects and create significant time or planning barriers too late in the process to effectively or efficiently address them.