Jill Gunn

Strategic assessment in Canada

Jill Gunn
Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Planning and the
School of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada

Abstract:
In Canada, strategic environmental assessment (SEA) is required to be undertaken by federal government departments and agencies as specified in the Cabinet Directive on the Environmental Assessment of Policy, Plan and Program Proposals. Federally, SEA agendas have gained considerable momentum in recent years, particularly evidenced by a marked interest in regional applications of strategic assessment in support of sustainable resource development. Overall, however, SEA uptake at a federal level has been rather uneven, and for many provincial departments and agencies SEA practice remains in its infancy.

Current strengths of the Canadian SEA system include a focus on addressing cumulative environmental effects and the further refinement of SEA as applied to plans, programs and other land based initiatives, which has helped to speed learning and refine best practices in these areas. At the same time, the wide variety of application contexts that exists has led to some confusion around “what SEA is.” SEA processes are also often disconnected vertically from other tiers of environmental assessment, and horizontally from broader planning and management initiatives. The extent to which SEA currently contributes to sustainability agenda in Canada is perhaps most evident where
it has been adopted in two provinces as an integral component of long-range regional sustainable development planning.