Environmental damages fund evaluation: introduction

Introduction

In 1995, at the request of the Minister of the Environment, a special purpose account called the EDF was created by TB to manage financial compensation granted to Environment Canada for restoration of damages sustained by the environment. It created a departmental framework for managing such compensation received to remediate / restore damage to the environment through court order, awards, out of court settlements, international funds or voluntary payments. The department's regions were to administer and manage the fund as well as the damage restoration work.

The TB submission for the creation of the EDF included a condition providing for an evaluation of the EDF some 5 years after its inception. The EDF has only been actively promulgated and operational in one Region. In light of that, this review had four components encompassing both a traditional evaluation for the Atlantic Region as well as three other components focussed more on potential improvements to its current use and its use in both other regions and in respect to other legislation. The components were:

1. An evaluation of the EDF in the Atlantic Region.
2. An examination of and a report on the familiarity with the EDF within EC and personnel involved in court processes.
3. A comparative analysis between the EDF and of how court awards and other monies are handled for the remediation/restoration of the environment in another Canadian provincial jurisdiction.
4. An assessment of the utility of EDF with respect to CEPA, specifically, Environmental Protection Alternative Measures (EPAM) and the use of the EDF in the context of court awards for wildlife protection, remediation.