Federal Contaminated Sites Receiving 2005-2006 Funds

Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan

There are currently about 4,000 sites on the Government of Canada’s Federal Contaminated Sites Inventory (http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/dfrp-rbif/cs-sc). Federal contaminated sites may be located on lands owned or leased by the federal government, or on non-federal lands where the federal government has accepted full responsibility for the contamination. These sites, for example, are located on abandoned mines, sites used to store fuel, airports, government laboratories, harbours, landfills, lighthouse stations, military bases and training facilities, and reserve lands.

The Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan was created in 2003 to help federal departments and agencies in efforts to manage risks associated with contaminated sites for which the federal government is responsible, especially those that pose the greatest risk to human health and the environment. The Action Plan was created to deliver on the Budget 2003 commitment. Budget 2004 provides for long-term funding of $3.5 billion for federal contaminated sites. With these ongoing resources, the Government of Canada is demonstrating that human health and environmental protection are priorities and that it is taking action for the common good and the quality of life of all Canadians.

Benefits from the Action Plan also contribute to other government-wide priorities:

• New deal for Cities and Communities: Many communities will benefit from the remediation of federal brownfields.
• Aboriginal policy linkages: Some projects will include Aboriginal training and employment opportunities. Aboriginal peoples are already involved in the remediation of a number of federal contaminated sites.
• Northern Strategy / International Polar Year: Accelerated remediation of contaminated sites is a cornerstone of the Northern Strategy, and efforts will contribute to the success of the International Polar Year (2007).
• Innovative technologies: Federal departments will report on the results of innovative technologies applied to federal contaminated sites.

For 2005-2006, $138.7 million has been committed to remediation, risk management and care and maintenance of 97 higher-risk sites identified under the Action Plan. A further $14.3 million is set aside for technical assessments of an estimated 500 sites to determine next steps.

Among the priority federal sites list, it is interesting to note that Harvey Barracks (Department of National Defence) has completed decontamination work.

The following is the list of the 97 priority sites funded under the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan in 2005-2006.

In total, the departments and agencies listed below will receive the following share of the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan funds for remediation of their sites: