History of EA in Ontario and The Path Forward

Robert B. Gibson is a professor in the School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability at the University of Waterloo. He has worked on improving assessment law and application since the mid-1970s, including in federal jurisdiction, most provinces and all three territories, and with several Indigenous authorities. He now focuses mostly on integrating sustainability considerations in a diversity of applications including assessments at the project and strategic levels.

Rodney Northey is in his 30th year of private practice and head of Gowling WLG’s Practice Group for Environmental Law in Canada. He is certified by the Law Society of Ontario as a specialist in environmental law and teaches on this subject in Osgoode Hall’s LL.M. program. During 2016-2017, Rod was a member of the federal panel appointed to review of Canada’s environmental assessment process and also a member of Ontario’s Advisory Panel to review the GTA West Environmental Assessment. Rod is co-author of the Guide to Canada’s Impact Assessment Act, 2020 edition (LexisNexis Canada 2020), sole author of several previous guides and annotations of federal environmental assessment law, and author of law journal articles on integrating Ontario environmental assessment and land use planning.

Caroline M. Coburn, MA, RPP, MCIP, is a professional planner and impact assessment professional with 26 years of experience in natural resource and infrastructure development sectors across Canada. Caroline is the Managing Director of Odonaterra, a consulting firm that works with Canada’s First Peoples and interested organizations to strengthen inclusion of Indigenous people in impact assessment, and in land and resources planning. Caroline served on the Executive of the OAIA (2010-2019) as President and Treasurer. She taught geography at the University of Ottawa and holds Geography degrees from the University of Alberta (MA) and University of Saskatchewan (BA Hons).