Environmental Impact Assessment

Class Screenings

A class screening is a tool that evaluates the impacts of a "class" of projects under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. Projects appropriate for such a class are repetitive, well defined, and take place in well-understood environmental settings. The projects are unlikely to cause significant adverse environmental effects and have low potential for public concern. There are two types of class screenings:

Model class screening

Consists of a model class screening report (MCSR) and a class screening project report (CSPR). The MCSR defines the class of projects being assessed and describes the associated environmental effects, design standards and mitigation measures. A CSPR form is filled out for each project assessed under the MCSR. Its purpose is to provide any additional site-specific information (e.g. environmental effects, design standards and mitigation measures) and determine the significance of potential environmental effects of that project.

Replacement class screening

Consists of a single report that defines the class of projects and describes the associated environmental effects, design standards and mitigation measures for projects assessed within the report. It includes a determination of the significance of potential adverse environmental effects for all projects assessed by the replacement class screening. Once the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency declares a replacement class screening report, no further environmental assessment is required for projects within the class.

A list of class screenings declared for use by Parks Canada can be found on the Canadian Environmental Assessment Registry Internet Site.