B.C.’s Environmental Assessment (EA) process is flawed and not able to fully address the interests of First Nations, according to an expert. “The EAO does a very good job with the tools it has, but the tool box has become a little bit sparse in recent years,” said Kevin Hanna, director at the UBC Centre for Environmental Assessment Research.
“I will be frank. Short of getting rid of it, I don’t know what she [Premier Christy Clark] could do to make it more predictable and more streamlined, because it is not a particularly onerous process in this province and the outcome is pretty certain,” he said. “It is almost always going to be ‘yes’ with some caveats, some conditions attached.”
Jennifer Thuncher – Squamish Chief – August 20, 2015.