Conference papers and articles

The significance spectrum and EIA significance determination. (212.2 KB)

The paper examines how significance determinations are made in impact assessment. It uses a visual model, called the significance spectrum, to simply illustrate four basic steps for determining the significance of a predicted impact. The highlights the need to use evidence-driven subjective informed judgement, reflecting societal values, when weighing the acceptability of predicted impacts.

This paper won an international award of "Best Paper of 2015" for the Journal of Impact Assessment and Impact Appraisal. This was awarded by the International Association for Impact Assessment, the leading global authority on best practice in impact assessment.

Articles and papers

Collective Impacts: Using Systems Thinking in Project-Level Assessment (Click here) (1.59 MB)

This paper describes an approach to assessing the multiple interconnected impacts of a project using systems thinking to see how the impacts fit together. It includes recent case studies from the Review Board’s environmental assessments.

Review Board Perspectives Paper 2020 (3.96 MB)

Evolving Environmental Impact Assessment in the Mackenzie Valley and beyond

Developing Guidelines for Incorporating Traditional Knowledge into the Environmental Impact Assessment Process (529.12 KB)

The Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board Experience
Presented at: IAIA 2005, Boston, USA

Written and Presented by:
Renita Jenkins (Schuh), Community Liaison Officer,
Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board

Involving Canada’s Indigenous Peoples in Environmental Impact Assessment (517.39 KB)

Co-management through the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board
Presented at: IAIA 2007, Seoul, Korea

Written by:
Graham White, Professor of Political Science,University of Toronto,
Vern Christensen, Executive Director,
and
Alan Ehrlich, Senior Environmental Assessment Officer,
Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board

Presented by:
Gabrielle Mackenzie-Scott, Chairperson,
Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board

Environmental Impact Assessment Made in the North (143.14 KB)

Presented at: IAIA 2004, Vancouver, BC

Written and Presented by:
Martin Haefele, Environmental Assessment Officer,
and
Kimberley Cliffe-Phillips, Environmental Assessment Officer,
Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board

Measuring Public Concern (156.97 KB)

Presented at: IAIA 2005, Boston, USA

Written and Presented by:
Martin Haefele, Environmental Assessment Officer
Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board

Cultural Cumulative Impact Assessment in Canada’s Far North (54.89 KB)

Presented at: IAIA 2004, Vancouver, BC

Written by:
Alan Ehrlich, Senior Environmental Assessment Officer,
and
Sherry Sian, Environmental Assessment Officer,
Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board

Presented by:
Alan Ehrlich, Senior Environmental Assessment Officer,
Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board

The “awakening” of SEIA in the Northwest Territories, Canada (143.76 KB)

The Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board Experience
Presented at: IAIA 2007, Seoul, Korea

Written by:
Mary Tapsell, Manager of Environmental Impact Assessment,
and
Alistair MacDonald, Environmental Assessment Officer,
Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board

Presented by:
Mary Tapsell, Manager of Environmental Impact Assessment,
Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board

Discussion Paper: A Framework for Determining Whether a Proposed Development is Likely to be Cause of Significant Public Concern (3.25 MB)

Written by:Martin Haefele, Manager, Environmental Impact AssessmentMackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review BoardNovember 20, 2009.

Dealing with Culturally Sensitive Areas in Industrial Project Design (223.55 KB)

Written by: Alan Ehrlich, Manager of Environmental Impact Assessment, MVEIRB

Published in International Indigenous Policy Journal,Â Vol. 3, Issue 2 (July 15, 2012)

Scoping to Prioritize (8.33 KB)

Presented at: International Association for Impact Assessment, 31st Annual International Conference (2011) ,Â Puebla, Mexico

Written and presented by Alan Ehrlich, Senior Environmental Assessment Officer, MVEIRB

Incorporating Traditional Knowledge into Environmental Impact Assessment (617.5 KB)

Poster presented at: International Association for Impact Assessment, 31st Annual International Conference (2011), Puebla, Mexico

Written by:

Martin Haefele, Manager of Environmental Impact Assessment, MVEIRB

Alan Ehrlich, Senior Environmental Assessment Officer, MVEIRB

Chuck Hubert, Environmental Assessment Officer, MVEIRB

Thresholds in Environmental Impact Assessment: Where to Draw the Line (682.18 KB)

Presented at: 35th Annual Geoscience Forum (2007), Yellowknife, NT

Prepared and presented by: Alan Ehrlich, Senior Environmental Assessment Officer, MVEIRB

The Significance Spectrum (1.06 MB)

Presented at: International Association for Impact Assessment 32nd International Conference (2012), Porto, Portugal

Written and presented by: Alan Ehrlich, Manger of Environmental Impact Assessment, MVEIRB

Cumulative Cultural Effects and Reasonably Foreseeable Future Developments in the Upper Thelon Basin, Canada (535.94 KB)

Written by: Alan Ehrlich, Senior Environmental Assessment Officer, MVEIRB

Published in Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, Vol.28, Issue 4 (Dec. 2010)

A case study on the use of onsite offsets to mitigate impacts to caribou from diamond mining in Canada's north (131.27 KB)

Paper prepared and presented at the 2017 IAIA Conference in Montreal.

Author: Chuck Hubert, Senior Environmental Assessment Officer

Using resilience to offset cumulative impacts (249.67 KB)

Paper prepared and presented at the 2017 IAIA conference in Montreal.

Author: Ruari Carthew, Senieor Environmental Assessment Officer

Conference presentations

Transforming Impact Assessment to Meet the Climate Crisis (87.09 KB)

Transforming Impact Assessment to Meet the Climate Crisis

Click here for video

Delivered at: IAIA’24 International Conference, Dublin, Ireland. April 27 2024

This is the presidential address delivered by Alan Ehrlich, the Mackenzie Valley Review Board’s Manager of EIA, in his role of President of the International Association for Impact Assessment. It focuses on the need to do impact assessment fast enough to meet the urgent challenge of global decarbonization, while still applying the lessons learned from over 50 years of impact assessment.