Ontario Association for Impact Assessment 2020 Conference / Webinar Series

This year’s Ontario Association for Impact Assessment (OAIA) conference is being replaced with a series of webinars on Modernizing Ontario’s Environmental Assessment Legislation – The Past, Present and Future. The webinar series is in response to Ontario’s recent proposals to modernize its Environmental Assessment Act (EAA). The series will examine Ontario’s assessment laws and policies through time, lessons learned, and recommendations for the future. Expert panelists will focus on EAA, specifically, history and trends, what is enacted, what is missing and needed, and what is next.

Webinars will occur from noon to 2 pm on November 5, 12, and 19, 2020. Each webinar will focus on one of the topics below. Information on panelists for each webinar will be made available in the coming weeks.

History and Trends of EA in Ontario and What Has Been Enacted Under Bill 197

Thursday, November 5, 2020 at 12:00 pm EST | Facilitators: C. Birchall and B. Williston
  • Purpose of environmental assessment (EA) and earlier amendments/trends
  • Minister’s challenge to OAIA in 2015 and OAIA’s response
  • Concept of willing hosts
  • Siting of new large landfills
  • Amendments to existing Class EAs and Changes to Part II Order Requests

What is Missing and Needed Based on Bill 197 Amendments?

Thursday, November 12, 2020 at 12:00 pm EST | Facilitators: C. Chetkiewicz and A. Grieve
  • Role of Indigenous communities in EA
  • Regional and strategic EAs
  • Sustainability and climate change in EA
  • Participant funding
  • Previous OAIA recommendations

What is Next?

Thursday, November 19, 2020 at 12:00 pm EST | Facilitators: S. Nairn and A. Grieve
  • Project List and standardized work plan
  • Timeline amendments in EAA
  • Streamlined Class EAs and sectoral EAs

RSVP: Interested participants are asked to complete the online form to RSVP. Please indicate which webinar you wish to RSVP for by providing the date or dates as applicable. Information on how to participate will be emailed to registered participants along with a calendar invitation one week prior to each webinar. You may choose to block off your calendar in advance to protect the timeslot.

 

Benefits of Membership: Members of OAIA enjoy a variety of benefits, including access to the exclusive members-only areas of the OAIA website; and access to IAIA member services. The 2020 webinar series is free of charge and open to OAIA members and non-members alike. However, we would encourage you to become a member, enjoy membership benefits and help us defray the cost of organizing and hosting these webinars.

 

Important Note: OAIA and the webinar series planning committee are open to receiving expressions of interest from members to participate as panelists. For students in a graduate program in a related discipline interested in participating as a panelist, OAIA will offer a student bursary. Expressions of interest from prospective panelists and student bursary applications are due by October 5, 2020 via email to info@oaia.on.ca.

 

If you have any suggestions for next year’s conference theme, please contact us at info@oaia.on.ca.

We look forward to welcoming your participation in this year’s OAIA webinar series.