Federal assessment and review process on Inuit or Naskapi Territory (section 23)

A project under federal jurisdiction:

• is automatically subject to a federal assessment and review process if it is mentioned in Annex 1 of Section 23 (Future developments automatically subject to the assessment process) of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement (JBNQA).
• is not subject to a federal assessment and review process if it is mentioned in Annex 2 of Section 23 (Future developments exempt from the requirement for impact assessment) of the JBNQA.
• must go through a federal assessment if it is not mentioned in annexes 1 or 2 of Section 23 of the JBNQA (we call these “grey-zone projects”).

For projects mentioned in Annex 1 of Section 23 and for grey-zone projects, the proponent must submit information on the project to the Federal Administrator, as specified in the Guide for proponents (Section 23).

Whether the project goes through a federal assessment and review or not, the proponent is responsible for getting any other permits or authorizations required at the municipal, regional, provincial and federal levels to carry out its project.