The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME)

The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) works to promote the cooperation and coordination of interjurisdictional issues such as waste management, air pollution and toxic chemicals. CCME members propose nationally-consistent environmental standards and objectives to achieve a high level of environmental quality across the country. The CCME does not impose its suggestions on its members since it does not have the authority to implement or enforce legislation; each jurisdiction decides whether or not to adopt CCME proposals.

The CCME is made up of environment ministers from federal, provincial and territorial governments. These 14 ministers normally meet twice a year to discuss national environmental priorities and determine work to be carried out under the auspices of the CCME.

A steering committee, the Environmental Planning and Protection Committee, made up of senior staff from each jurisdiction, provides on-going advice to the CCME and coordinates specific CCME projects assigned to intergovernmental task groups. In this way, member governments can respond quickly to emerging issues, set national environmental strategies, and develop long-term plans.

Through task groups, CCME members work cooperatively to achieve specific goals, and to reach consensus on proposed national policies, programs, standards and guidelines.

The CCME's website can be visited at: http://www.ccme.ca.

Water Quality Task Group

Since 1986, the mandate of this task group has been to develop, approve and publish national water quality guidelines. It is also currently identifying «indicators» to measure the health of the ecosystem. The National Guidelines and Standards Office of Environment Canada acts as the technical secretariat for the Water Quality Task Group, providing technical coordination and delivery of new and revised water, sediment, and tissue residue guidelines.

Major products

In 1987, the Water Quality Task Group published the Canadian Water Quality Guidelines, one of CCME's most successful products (CCREM 1987). So widely respected are these guidelines, that the United Nations Environment Program and the World Health Organization have distributed them widely -- they are used in 45 different countries around the world. The document included recommended guidelines for five water uses: raw water for drinking water supply, recreational water quality and aesthetics, aquatic life (freshwater and marine), agricultural uses (irrigation and livestock watering), and industrial water supplies. Between 1989 and 1997, the original publication was expanded with a series of 19 appendices which included 41 guidelines, the interim marine and estuarine water quality guidelines for general variables, and protocols for the development of guidelines for the protection of aquatic life and agricultural water uses (irrigation and livestock watering).

In 1999, the CCME published an updated and expanded document entitled Canadian Environmental Quality Guidelines. This 1000+ page document contains factsheets for the various Canadian water, sediment, soil and tissue quality guidelines. Each factsheet gives a brief summary of the parameter's chemical and physical properties, production and use in Canada, fate and behaviour in the environment, toxic effects, and a description of how the guidelines were developed. Also included in this publication are the various CCME protocols for the development of Canadian Environmental Quality Guidelines. The document comes as a 2-binder set with a searchable CD-ROM. New guidelines and updates to existing CEQGs are provided regularly and are available from the CCME. The first set of updates were distributed in 2001. Information on ordering the document can be obtained by contacting the CCME.

Soil Quality Guidelines Task Group

The mandate of the Soil Quality Guidelines Task Group is to develop, approve and publish national soil quality guidelines for the protection of environmental and human health. The National Guidelines and Standards Office of Environment Canada acts as the technical secretariat for the task group, providing technical coordination and delivery of new and revised soil quality guidelines. The task group has also been actively involved in the development of Canada-wide Standards for contaminants in soils.

Major products

The Soil Quality Guidelines Task Group, as its former incarnation, the CCME Subcommittee on Environmental Quality Criteria for Contaminated Sites, produced numerous guidance documents on managing contaminated sites in Canada. Since the sunsetting of the National Contaminated Sites Remediation Program (NCSRP) in 1995, the task group has produced several publications on the development and use of Canadian soil quality guidelines, as well as providing input to the 1999 CCME publication entitled "Canadian Environmental Quality Guidelines".

Recently, the Soil Quality Guidelines Task Group has put considerable effort into developing the Canada-wide Standards for Petroleum Hydrocarbons in soil.

CCME Canada-Wide Standards

Canada-wide Standards (CWS) are developed by the CCME for environmental protection or health risk reduction issues that need to be addressed across Canada in a standard, or harmonized way. Several of these standards are based in part on the Canadian Environmental Quality Guidelines. More information on existing Canada-wide Standards and the CWS development process can be found on the CCME website.