Allowing the Lieutenant…

Allowing the Lieutenant Governor the ability to provide exemptions to projects from archaeological assessments contradicts Ontario’s commitments as outlined in the Provincial Policy Statement (2024). In Section 4.6 of the PPS (2024), the Province requires that, “Planning authorities shall not permit development and site alteration on lands containing archaeological resources or areas of archaeological potential unless the significant archaeological resources have been conserved, “ and that “Planning authorities shall engage early with Indigenous communities and ensure their interests are considered when identifying, protecting and managing archaeological resources, built heritage resources and cultural heritage landscapes.”
Additionally, granted exemptions will likely result in increased timelines rather than shortened. The process of receiving authorization from the Lieutenant Governor in Council is lengthy and would require organizing a detailed application listing how the project fulfills the eligibility criteria as early as possible in the project lifetime. Acquiring an exemption could lead to project delays and increased costs later on if archaeological resources are discovered during the construction program. These archaeological resources would need to be mitigated before the construction program could resume and would result in delay claims and increased costs from contractors.
There will likely be impacts to the Province’s relationships with Indigenous communities if exemptions are sought in opposition to the interests of interested Indigenous Peoples. Bypassing the archaeological process ignores the rights of Indigenous communities and opposes the commitments of UNDRIP (United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples) of which Canada is a signatory.
This would be detrimental to the archaeological and environmental community and would create job loss in an unstable economy.