Bilateral agreements
All levels of government share responsibility for wastewater releases in Canada. The Fisheries Act allows the Minister to enter into agreements with:
- Provincial governments
- Territorial governments
- Indigenous governing bodies
- Any body created under a land claims agreement
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) use bilateral agreements to help reduce regulatory overlap. As of today, ECCC has entered into these agreements with three provinces and Yukon.
Administrative agreements
With an administrative agreement, the province administers activities of the Regulations rather than ECCC. This allows a single point of contact for regulatees.
Wastewater systems covered under this type of agreement are subject to both provincial and federal regulations.
There are two administrative agreements in place with New Brunswick and Saskatchewan.
Equivalency agreement and Order in Council
Under the Fisheries Act, if a provincial or territorial regulatory regime is considered equivalent in effect to the federal Regulations, an equivalency agreement can be concluded. An equivalency agreement allows the Governor in Council to declare that the federal Regulations do not apply in that jurisdiction.
There are two equivalency agreements with the Regulations, one with Yukon (signed in 2014) and one with Quebec (signed in 2018).