The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) helps the government take environmental impacts into account when developing policies, plans and programs and making decisions. Under the Cabinet Directive on the Environmental Assessment of Policy, Plan and Program Proposals (Cabinet Directive), federal departments and agencies are expected to conduct a SEA for proposed policies, plans and programs submitted to a Minister or Cabinet for approval, where implementation could result in important environmental effects, either positive or negative.
With the 2016–2019 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy, the Government of Canada reaffirmed its commitment to applying SEA, supporting the promise to Canadians to make decisions based on evidence and to set a higher bar for openness and transparency in government. To follow through on this commitment, VAC will ensure that if needed, SEAs are consistently conducted in accordance with the Cabinet Directive. This will include assessing potential impacts on the 2016–2019 FSDS goals and targets. To date, VAC has not performed a full SEA; however, VAC continues to conduct preliminary SEA scans on new policies, plans and programs, and would proceed with a full SEA if those findings showed negative environmental impact.
VAC has developed and will implement its departmental SEA policy, which sets out how the Department applies the Cabinet Directive to help ensure that environmental considerations are taken into account in decision-making. The departmental policy includes step-by-step instructions for conducting SEAs, roles and responsibilities, as well as clear accountabilities for SEA development, approval and reporting. VAC will review and update its departmental SEA policy on a regular basis, based on input from program leads and senior management, consistent with the 2016–2019 FSDS and the Cabinet Directive.
To support employees in carrying out their responsibilities under the Cabinet Directive, VAC will ensure that they have access to key items such as tools, checklists and templates to guide the process of conducting an SEA, as well as training for program leads and senior management.
The SEA supports transparency through a requirement to issue public statements where a detailed SEA has been conducted for an initiative that is approved or announced. The purpose of the public statement is to demonstrate that the environmental effects, including the impacts on achieving the FSDS goals and targets, of the approved policy, plan or program have been considered during proposal development and decision making.
In conclusion, VAC will continue to ensure that its decision-making process includes consideration of FSDS goals and targets through its SEA policy and as required, by the Cabinet Directive.