USER GUIDE ON THE CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL
Contents
1. Public inquiries are handled in a consistent manner across the department Therefore the following information must always be officially logged date and time of the inquiry as well as the date and time that any follow up as a result of the inquiry is satisfied name address phone number of the person making the request project title location FEAI and RA Reference of the project whether or not the Record Listing for the project is needed and the title and author of any record which is requested in order to facilitate retrieving the record In addition the person making the inquiry should always be informed of CIDA s Cost Recovery Policy in relation to the public registries In CIDA it is the responsibility of the Public Registries Coordinator to process public inquiries The form provided on Annex B should be used to log public inquiries related to records on CIDA public registries 1 4 11 What types of questions can CIDA expect from the public Public inquiries are most common for large projects which have a high public profile Where CIDA is lead RA for this type of project a large volume of public inquiries related to the adverse environmental effects of the project are expected both before the Minister of the Environment refers the project to a mediator review panel joint review panel or advisory committee if 11 appropriate and after the report of the mediator joint review panel review panel or advisory2. committee is submitted back to the Minister of the Environment and CIDA More often CIDA receives requests for the record listing for those less controversial projects for which they are the lead RA since monthly update does not include the transfer of the record listing to the FEAI Therefore the public view lacks the record listing for each project Accordingly the Public Registries Coordinator maintains a paper or electronic copy of the current record listing for each project for which CIDA is the RA in order to respond to requests for copies as efficiently as possible After this preliminary request for the project s record listing CIDA can expect a request to be made for copies of one or all of the records on the record listing As often as possible it is recommended that the records be supplied in electronic format 1 4 12 How much time does CIDA have to respond to public requests for records Since records must be cleared before not after a public request for the record s is made CIDA must attempt to respond to public requests for records faster than if the request was made through the ATIA The turn around time for inquiries made under the ATIA is 30 calendar days Under the CEAA however access to any document is pre determined before any request is received It is not necessary to factor into the processing period any time for determining whether access is to be provided or for searching for a document Some flexibility exi
3. 12th floor Hull Quebec K1A 0G4 tel 819 997 5006 E mail info acdi cida gc ca in preparation CIDA and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act Poster 4 Public Registries Process from a set of 6 posters Policy Branch Environmental Assessment and Compliance Unit CIDA Communication Branch 200 Promenade du Portage 12th floor Hull Quebec K1A 0G4 tel 819 997 5006 E mail info acdi cida gc ca Electronic Job Aid and the CEAA electronic training tool the third section deals with the public registries Policy Branch Environmental Assessment and Compliance Unit CIDA Available to all CIDA employees through Navigaide Environmental Assessment at CIDA Policy Branch Environmental Assessment and Compliance Unit CIDA 23 pages CIDA Communication Branch 200 Promenade du Portage 5th floor Hull Quebec K1A 0G4 tel 819 997 5006 E mail info acdi cida gc ca Manual on the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act The Canada Fund and Mission Administered Funds Policy Branch Environmental Assessment and Compliance Unit CIDA 1996 43 pages CIDA Communications Branch 200 Promenade du Portage 5th floor Hull Quebec K1A 0G4 tel 819 997 5006 E mail info acdi cida gc ca Readers can also refer to the following related documents developed by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency tel 819 997 1000 fax 819 994 1469 Internet www ceaa gc ca The Responsible Authority s Filing System of the Federal Env
4. 17 on CIDA s Public Registries Filing System sent to the central FEAI 5 How does CIDA determine which records belong on a public registry 6 Are Canada Funds and Mission Administered funds projects part of CIDA pu blic registries 5 cis os 5 oe edes othe eene Sioa tre heals were dares oboe onde s 8 Who in CIDA is required to do the record clearing 8 How should CIDA s records be filed once they have been cleared 9 What happens if multiple Responsible authorities file a record on the FEAT for the same project 2 0 cc ccc ce ce ecw ce reece eee eee e ee eeees 9 Does the public have access to the FEAT cece eee ee eee eee 10 Who is the public contact to get more information about a CIDA project undergoing an environmental assessment cee cee eee ees 10 How does CIDA process public registries inquiries 10 What types of questions can CIDA expect from the public 11 How much time does CIDA have to respond to public requests for records 12 Can CIDA also expect walk in public inquiries 12 Can CIDA cost recover for responding to public requests for copies of records in the public registries cece cece eee e cece ec ecenes 12 Can CIDA be reimbursed for the funds that it cost recovers 13 Do public registries records requested by the public have to be translated 14 Where can one get assistance with r
5. H aly f Canadian International Agence canadienne de Development Agency d veloppement international USER GUIDE ON THE CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT ACT THE PUBLIC REGISTRIES OF ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS March 1998 POLICY BRANCH Environmental Assessment and Compliance Unit YEA Canadian International Development Agency 200 Promenade du Portage Gatineau Quebec K1A 0G4 Tel 819 997 5006 Toll free 1 800 230 6349 Fax 819 953 6088 For the hearing and speech impaired only TDD TTY 819 953 5023 Toll free for the hearing and speech impaired only 1 800 331 5018 l E mail info acdi cida gc ca Canada 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION hree 38d on neen R eae ewlren ts chee ie eae kde te Bie ees 1 AN OVERVIEW OF THE PUBLIC REGISTRIES ccc e eee eeee 1 PUBLIC REGISTRY COMPONENTS cc ccc cece cece cece eeeeence 3 1 3 1 The Federal Environmental Assessment Index FEAD cee0e 3 1 32 The Record Listing ciso sneri enie Baa GR EEE s 3 1 3 3 The RECORDS ereere teint nies we ks te aes wide tanh OAM or Ree ee areas 4 CIDA S PUBLIC REGISTRIES v oeeie ioia cea den hast eure meek Aten EEES 5 1 4 1 Who enters the data into the FEAT cc cece ccc cece cece ences 5 1 4 2 How often are Environmental Assessments data concerning project records 1 4 3 1 4 4 1 4 5 1 4 6 1 4 7 1 4 8 1 4 9 1 4 10 1 4 11 1 4 12 1 4 13 1 4 14 1 4 15 1 4 16 1 4
6. ces across Canada as well as through Internet The CEA Agency is responsible for providing the public with this information based on monthly updates from RA Filing Systems The FEAI Internet address is http www ceaa gc ca 1 4 9 Who is the public contact to get more information about a CIDA project undergoing an environmental assessment Since the CEA Agency is responsible for maintaining records on the Registry of projects referred to a mediator review panel joint review panel or advisory committee the public will contact the CEA Agency for information on these projects until the time that the report of the review panels mediator or advisory committee is returned to the Minister of the Environment and CIDA Once CIDA receives the panel mediation or advisory committee report the public will once again contact the Public Registries Coordinator to receive information related to the project For all other projects the public will forward their questions directly to the individuals listed on the FEAI as contacts for a particular project In CIDA the Public Registries Coordinator and its assistant are identified as the sole public contact points Where CIDA is the lead RA it provides to the public one departmental contact for each project record on the FEAI the record contact and the project contact are both the public registries coordinator The public registries coordinator when required gets in touch with the Branch record contact and o
7. dures later Many documents relating to a screening must always be included in the public registry of the project for example the screening report the class screening report if used supporting documentation such as background reports and studies used in the analysis terms of reference if applicable advice or information provided by expert departments and agencies documents related to the public involvement program used in the environmental assessment public comments received monitoring plans and the results of monitoring if applicable any follow up program and its results if applicable public notices of decisions Some documents must almost always be excluded from the public registries for example personal information protected under the Privacy Act solicitor client privilege any Cabinet document which contains confidences of the Queen s Privy Council for Canada Documents in this category include memoranda to Cabinet MCs background discussion papers providing explanations analysis or policy options for consideration in decision making agenda or records of deliberation or decision making communications between Cabinet ministers on matters relating to government decision making or the formulation of government policy briefing notes in relation to matters before or proposed to be brought before Cabinet or Cabinet committees draft legislation includ
8. egistries Coordinator s office is located in the Environmental Assessment and Compliance Unit YEA of the Policy Branch Data entry is done by accessing CIDA s FEAI filing system and following procedures for data entry and transmission as set out in the CEA Agency s guidance material The Public Registries Coordinator must prepare and submit each year to Parliament through the CEA Agency a statistical summary of all the EAs pursuant to the CEAA undertaken or directed by CIDA and all courses of action taken as well as all decisions made in relation to the environmental effects of the projects after the assessments were made This summary must also include the Canada Fund and other mission administered projects if applicable At the end of each fiscal year posts which are the lead RA for a project are required to forward paper or electronic copies of the information required by the FEAI and relevant EA data to the designated departmental data entry site in YEA for onward transmission to the FEAI The report must list the following information the title of the project s for which an Environmental Screening Report was prepared a brief description on the project activities the country and location of the project the screening decision and course of action which was made by the mission or Embassy according to Section C of the Environmental Screening Report 1 4 2 How often are EA data concerning project records on CIDA public registries filing syste
9. equest such information When in the position of an RA for a project CIDA s responsibilities will include determining which records or portions thereof must be placed in a public registry under the Act ensuring that the record listing is kept up to date for each project and ensuring that the record listing is available to the public either in paper or electronic format upon request NOTE The FEAI does not include presently the record listing for each project since the monthly update of the FEAI does not transfer this information For this reason it is important that CIDA ensure that a paper or electronic copy of the record listing for each of its environmental assessments included in a public registry be prepared and available for the public upon request 1 3 3 The Records The record portion of the Public Registries System includes all records produced collected or submitted with respect to the environmental assessment of a project NOTE The definition of what constitutes a record under the Act is very broad According to the CEAA a record is any correspondence memorandum book plan map drawing diagram pictorial or graphic work photograph film microform sound recording videotape machine readable record and any other documentary material regardless of physical form or characteristics and any copy thereof When in the role of lead RA for a project CIDA s Public Registries Coordinator s o
10. espect to public registries 14 ANNEXES A List of criteria for inclusion in the public registries B Request for documents listed in the public registries CIDA 1523 1995 10 ACRONYMS CIDA CEAA CEA Agency EA IDIC YEA ATIP ATIA OLA FEAI Canadian International Development Agency Canadian Environmental Assessment Act Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency Environment Assessment International Development Information Centre Acronym to define Environmental Assessment amp Compliance Unit Access to Information and Privacy Access to Information Act Official Languages Act Responsible Authority Federal Environmental Assessment Index CIDA USER GUIDE TO THE PUBLIC REGISTRIES OF ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS 1 1 INTRODUCTION The requirement for all federal departments and certain agencies to establish and maintain public registries of their environmental assessments EAs is an aspect of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act CEAA which has a significant impact on CIDA The purpose of this guide is to focus on the implications of the Public Registries on CIDA as well as to outline the Departmental approach to meeting its requirements An overview of the Public Registries is first presented in order to provide readers with the background needed to consider its implications 1 2 AN OVERVIEW OF THE PUBLIC REGISTRIES One of the cornerstones of the CEAA is its commitment to providing the pub
11. ffice serves as the window through which the public can gain access to the records associated with the environmental assessment of the project in question In this role the Public Registries Coordinator also ensures that each record produced by or for CIDA has been subject to the record clearing process under the Act this requirement is covered in section 1 4 5 of this guide determines the fee for providing copies of records to the public based on the CEA Agency Cost Recovery Guidelines refer to CIDA Procedural Guide to the Public Registries as well as section 1 4 14 of the present guide determines the need to translate records based on the Official Languages Act this requirement is covered in section 1 4 16 1 4 CIDA PUBLIC REGISTRIES Based on the CEA Agency s design of the electronic FEAI only the lead RA for a project is responsible for filing the environmental assessment with the FEAI The lead RA is also responsible for the related record clearing requirements of the Registry In order that CIDA be prepared for the role of lead RA for a project a number of issues must be considered These issues are presented below as a series of questions and answers 1 4 1 Who enters the data onto the Federal Environmental Assessment Index For projects for which CIDA is the only or the lead RA data entry is performed solely by the designated departmental Public Registries contact at CIDA Headquarters Hull The Departmental Public R
12. h the public do not have to be translated even if they are stored in officially bilingual areas The need for translating records written in languages other than the two official languages must be determined on a case by case basis Questions with respect to such cases should be forwarded to YEA attn the Public Registries Coordinator or to Legal Services 1 4 17 Where can we get assistance with respect to the public registries Assistance with the FEAI and the public registries policy and processes are available from a number of sources The Public Registries Coordinator s office located within the Environmental Assessment and Compliance Unit YEA Policy Branch will be pleased to help you and answer any questions with respect to this subject matter The Public Registries Coordinator or her assistant may be contacted at CIDA via telephone 819 953 4932 or 994 7087 fax 819 953 3348 or E mail Jacqueline_Bilodeau acdi_cida gc ca 14 Employees both at CIDA Head office and at the posts may also contact an Environment Specialist Advisor in their respective Branches via e mail phone or fax A number of documents and supporting documentation is available to help integrate public registries of environmental assessments requirements into projects CIDA Procedural Guide to the Public Registries of Environmental Assessments Policy Branch Environmental Assessment and Compliance Unit CIDA Public Registries Coordinator 200 Promenade du Portage
13. ing draft regulations guidelines orders in council and other statutory instruments which require Cabinet approval any record which contains information about the contents of any of the above kinds of records Any such documents must be certified by the Privy Council Office PCO in order to be excluded from a public registry Record clearing procedures are outlined in sections 1 1 to 1 4 of CIDA s Procedural Guide on the Public Registries and on CIDA Poster 4 Public Registries of Environmental Assessments Readers should refer to this guidance as well as to pages 169 178 of the CEA Agency s Public Registry Reference Guide for more information on this aspect of the public registries NOTE It should be noted that not every project must be entered in the FEAI and ina public registry CIDA must establish and operate a public registry for each project for which an EA is conducted only if the CEAA applies However a public registry is not maintained in the cases where an EA of a project is not required for instance if the project is described in the Exclusion List regulation or if the project is to be carried out in response to an emergency and carrying out the project forthwith is in the interest of preventing damage to property or the environment or is in the interest of public health and safety Also projects do not have to be registered in the FEAI nor placed in public registries if an EA process other than the one outlined pursuan
14. ironmental Assessment Index a User s Manual and The Reference Guide for the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act The Public Registry which is included as an appendix to The Responsible Authority s Guide to the CEAA 15 16
15. lic with a fair and transparent environmental assessment process The preamble to the Act which sets the foundation for the entire process emphasizes the Government of Canada s commitment to providing the public with the opportunity to participate in the environmental assessment process as well as to have access to the information on which those environmental assessments are based The Public Registries system goes a long way toward meeting this commitment Section 55 of the CEAA specifically addresses the Public Registries requirements It indicates that federal government institutions must maintain a public registry in respect of every project for which an EA is conducted and must ensure convenient public access to records relating to the EA It is also specific with respect to where the responsibilities rest NOTE According to Section 55 a public registry must be maintained by a the Responsible Authority RA from the commencement of the environmental assessment of the project until the follow up program if there is one has been completed b the CEA Agency when the project is referred to a mediator or a review panel from the appointment of the mediator or the members of the review panel until the report of the mediator or review panel is submitted to the Minister of the Environment The CEA Agency being responsible for administering and ensuring consistency of the process has established an electronic Public Registries sy
16. m sent to the central Federal Environmental Assessment Index The FEAI receives updates of the information entered onto the various RA public registries filing systems on a monthly basis Therefore any new environmental assessments entered onto CIDA filing system or any change in the status of environmental assessments entered within the last month will be noted on the central FEAI only after the next monthly update Projects must be maintained on CIDA Public Registries filing system and updated onto the FEAT on a monthly basis until the completion of any follow up program associated with the project The CEA Agency which is responsible for the central FEAI ensures the updated environmental assessment information is made available to the public 1 4 3 How does CIDA determine which records belong on a public registry Section 55 3 of the CEAA clearly sets out which records belong on a public registry It states a public registry shall contain all records produced collected or submitted with respect to the environmental assessment of the project The Act qualifies this requirement by indicating the need to first determine whether a record can be made publicly available based primarily on the provisions of the Access to Information Act ATIA Further to this the CEA Agency recommends that departments and agencies address key privacy and access considerations before a record is produced to eliminate the need to follow the record clearing proce
17. mat the Agency s Guide refers to a fee of 10 00 for information provided on 5 25 or 3 5 diskettes 1 4 15 Can CIDA be reimbursed for the funds that it cost recovers 13 Yes Though typically recovered costs are forwarded to the Receiver General of Canada arrangements can be made in advance with the Department of Finance to have the funds which are recovered returned to the responsibility centre where the costs were incurred This arrangement must be done at the start of each fiscal year based on an estimate of the amount of money to be cost recovered during the year 1 4 16 Do public registries records requested by the public have to be translated A record noted on a public registry which was prepared for the purpose of communicating with the public originated with CIDA and has a primary contact as listed on the FEAT located in a area designated as officially bilingual such as is the case for CIDA must be translated in the other official language only if and when a request is made for that record It should be noted that the focus is on the location and origin of the records rather than on the origin of the request for the records It should also be clear that all three of the above conditions must be met before a record is required to be translated into the other official language For example records that are prepared by CIDA for internal use in making a decision but not for the purpose of communicating wit
18. nthly update this time delay makes the FEAI less useful to CIDA The practice of using these identifiers facilitates quick response to public inquiries 1 4 7 What happens if multiple federal government institutions RAs file a record on the FEAI for the same project In rare cases early in the life of a proposed project multiple RAs i e federal government institutions may be involved in the same project without being aware of one another s involvement This scenario could result in more than one RA entering information on the FEAI for the project Should a project manager suspect this possibility a search must be done of the FEAT which holds records entered by all departments and agencies by the public registries coordinator through the Internet If such a scenario is confirmed a lead RA must be chosen and the multiple records on the FEAI must be merged The CEA Agency s design of the FEAI allows for such a fix This is the responsibility of the Public Registries Office Readers may wish to refer to page 7 3 of the CEA Agency s User Manual on the Responsible Authority s Filing System of the Federal Environmental Assessment Index for the steps required to consolidate EAs or to change the lead RA for a project 1 4 8 Does the public have access to the Federal Environmental Assessment Index The public has access to the FEAI which is available from a number of different venues including the CEA Agency s offices and Panel Review offi
19. on Administered Funds 1 4 5 Who in CIDA is required to do the record clearing Due to the importance of the procedure it is recommended that the manager of the project under assessment since this individual will be most familiar with the file be responsible for the initial record clearing A list of criteria for inclusion in the public registries please refer to Annex A has been developed to help CIDA employees determine whether a document or portions of it should be included in a public registry Project managers should fill out the list to the best of their knowledge If only part of the document contains information which CIDA cannot legally place in a registry then the desk officer should make reference to the location of the information in the document If the project manager has any questions concerning the inclusion list he she should contact the Public Registries Coordinator for clarification However in most cases document clearing should be a straightforward process The inclusion lists can be obtained through the Public registries office in the Environmental Assessment and Compliance Unit Policy Branch YEA They are also available electronically through the CIDA Amipro style sheets under Criteria Public Registries After the Branch performs the initial review the document s and the completed inclusion list must be forwarded to YEA attn the Public Registries Coordinator The Public Registries Coordinator will do a
20. poses only According to the CEA Agency Reference Guide on the public registries there should be no minimum or maximum charges for reproducing records Fees for the cost of reproduction shall be calculated as follows a photocopies of page dimension of not more than 21 1 cm by 35 5 cm 0 20 each page for pages larger than this size on an at cost basis b microfiche duplication 0 40 each fiche c reproduction of a document in electronic form where available 10 00 per 5 25 or 3 5 diskette Charges are automatically waived when the costs do not exceed 25 The Public Registries Coordinator must provide the person making a request with a determination of the fees to be charged and a cheque or money order cash should not be accepted made out to the Receiver General for Canada must be received prior to the records being provided For cost savings the reproduction of records in electronic form is encouraged NOTE Cost Recovery Guidelines based on the Access to Information Act guidelines are described in more detail in the Fee Schedule section of the CIDA Procedural Guide to the public registries pages 46 to 47 Readers should refer also to the CEA Agency s guidance on cost recovery set out in detail on pages 178 183 of The Reference Guide for the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act The Public Registry Readers should note that through the ATI guidelines do not set a fee for information provided on diskette for
21. project title type of assessment type of physical work or activity start and end date of project assessment geographic location etc from federal departments and agencies across all of Canada It also captures the names and addresses of individuals assigned to be contacts for each project in order to provide a window for public access to the records produced collected or submitted during the related environmental assessment The FEAI receives updates of this key information on a monthly basis Once these updates are received the public portion of the FEAT is updated as well The public portion of the information stored on the FEAI provides the general public with access to information on all federal environmental assessments performed under the CEAA The public has access to this information in a number of ways through Internet accounts at the CEA Agency offices HQ provincial and specific Public Review offices 1 3 2 The Record Listing The record listing portion of the public registry system is an itemized list of the publicly available records produced collected or submitted with respect to the environmental assessment of the project The Act obliges each RA to maintain all records for those assessments for which it is responsible Each RA must ensure that record listings are provided to the contact for the environmental assessment as noted on the FEAT so that the listing is readily available to members of the public who r
22. r the project contact such as the project manager Although the names of the individual project managers do not appear on the FEAI they are however part of the public registries records on CIDA s Environmental Assessments Forms and consequently available to the public 1 4 10 How does CIDA process public registries inquiries CIDA started to respond to such inquiries one month after the FEAI was established since this was the earliest that the public had access to the FEAI The CEA Agency s first transmittal of information on the FEAI to the public occured May 10 1995 through Internet 10 CIDA must ensure that the public is given access to the records requested in a manner which is consistent across the entire Department Accordingly the public registries coordinator and the International Development Information Centre IDIC must facilitate public access to the records associated with a particular project assessment between the hours of 8 30 to 4 30 weekdays local time Should the Public Registries Coordinator be unavailable during these hours a fall back position is in place in YEA This person is also CIDA s contact point with respect to data entry into the FEAI It ensures that the person receiving the re routed call is knowledgeable enough about the FEAI to record the information required to satisfy the request It is suggested that the request form in Annex B be used to record requests concerning the public registries NOTE
23. secondary review prior to placing the document s in a registry If after the second review the Public Registries Office is not sure if the record can be placed in a registry it will contact the Branch to discuss the matter further The Coordinator will also consult Legal Services and the Departmental Access to Information and Privacy Secretariat for assistance related to record clearing questions 1 4 6 How are CIDA records filed once they have been cleared It is important that records that have been cleared be so indicated and also be easily accessible in order to respond to phone or walk in requests by the public to view the records To prepare for enquiries from the public CIDA has set aside a record viewing room to allow the public to look over records noted in the public registries before making a request for a personal copy This area is located in the International Development Information Centre IDIC on the 8th Floor of CIDA Headquarters 200 Promenade du Portage Hull Quebec KIA 0G4 Since each record on the public version of the FEAT is identified with a unique FEAI generated by the FEAT the Project Title and the RA Reference project one or all of these references may be used by the public when making an enquiry For this reason CIDA has decided to file records which have been cleared with an indication of the CIDA Project and Project Title The FEAI is not received by CIDA s Filing System until after each successful mo
24. stem the Federal Environmental Assessment Index the FEAT within which all Federal departments and certain agencies the RAs function and which facilitates meeting the requirements of the Public Registries under the Act NOTE Based on the CEA Agency s design of the electronic FEAT only the lead department or RA is responsible for filing the environmental assessment on the FEAI for a particular project In such cases other departments RAs for the project must ensure that the lead receives all the information necessary to perform this function on behalf of the group Therefore when CIDA is a RA for a project but not the lead RA or when it finds itself in the role of one out of many expert Federal Authorities for a project CIDA is not required to file a record of the environmental assessment on the FEAI 1 3 PUBLIC REGISTRY COMPONENTS The Public Registries system consists of three components the Federal Environmental Assessment Index the record listing and the records which are produced collected or submitted with respect to the environmental assessment process A detailed description of each of these components is provided on the following pages 1 3 1 The Federal Environmental Assessment Index The Federal Environmental Assessment Index or FEAT is a national electronic database of the key information from all the environmental assessments conducted under the CEAA The FEAI receives this key information e g
25. sts for this turn around time in cases where a request is received for a large number of records and where the public is agreeable to the delay Guidelines on the time for responding to requests is available from the CEA Agency Reference Guide on the Public Registry and CIDA Procedural Guide to the public registries According to these guidelines access should be provided within 10 working days of the date of the request unless an extension is warranted 1 4 13 Can CIDA also expect walk in public inquiries CIDA should fully expect to have members of the public visit the Agency both at Headquarters Hull and at the Posts in order to review the record listing or the records associated with a particular project In order to accomodate this possibility a viewing room has been established in the IDIC so that members of the public can review records of interest The public also has the right to access the public registries kept in CIDA Missions abroad 1 4 14 Can CIDA cost recover for responding to public requests for copies of records in the public registries 12 Yes CIDA can cost recover for such public registries related activity Cost recovery can be used for reimbursement of the direct costs of reproducing records in hard copy or electronic form Costs cannot be recovered however for indirect costs associated with providing access to records nor can they be recovered for providing the public with access to the records for viewing pur
26. t to the CEAA is used ie subsection 54 2 use of a foreign state process consistent with the CEAA or other alternative process 1 4 4 Are Canada Funds and Mission administered funds projects part of CIDA public registries The CEAA acknowledges that the public has a right to know about a project s environmental assessment For all projects that undergo an environmental screening under the CEAA each Mission must keep copies of any documents relating to the environmental screening in the project file Kept at the post for a minimum of five years the purpose of this public registry is to document the environmental assessment process The public registry should include all records produced by submitted to or collected by CIDA with respect to the EA including CIDA forms 1519 1 2 3 The Public Registries Coordinator may periodically request the contents of the public registry ies to be forwarded to CIDA head office to allow convenient access to the public CIDA requests annually as part of its Year End Report of projects supported by Missions and Embassies a listing of the projects included in the Public Registry This listing is included in the Central Public Registry at CIDA to which the public has convenient access The recommended framework and standard format for the annual public registry report to CIDA are described on pages 4 and 26 Annex C of the CIDA Manual on the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act The Canada Fund and Missi
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