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The Environmental Protection Branch of Environment Canada (EC) administers two acts which generally apply to the control of pollutants. These are the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) and the pollution prevention provisions of the Fisheries Act (FA) which are discharged through a comprehensive program of planned and reactive inspections of facilities and investigations of suspected violations.
Enforcement Officers generally work in one or three work classifications: Inspectors, Investigators, or Intelligence officers. The role of Inspectors is to deliver the Regional Inspection Plan and respond to complaints from the public and other government departments. In doing so, their mandate is to verify compliance with EC’s legislation. Investigators may from time to time conduct compliance inspections, but their primary enforcement role is in the identification of offences and in the compilation of evidence in support of enforcement action. Intelligence Officers analyze trends for enforcement planning purposes, operational intelligence for targeting purposes, and tactical intelligence for officer safety and investigation support functions.
The Region’s Pollution Enforcement function is delivered from both the Regional office and District offices in the Atlantic Provinces. A total of 16
personnel are designated as Enforcement Officers under CEPA, 1999 and the FA. The Manager, Office of Enforcement, Head of Inspections, 10 Enforcement Officers, and one Administrative Officer are based in the Regional office in Dartmouth, NS; 2 Enforcement Officers are located in the St. John’s, NL, District office; and, 2 in the Fredericton, NB, District office. All Enforcement officers have the authority of Peace Officers.
Legal Perspectives
Procedures
Legislation
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