March 31, 2022
I am excited to announce the launch of the Environmental Appeal Board’s new website, at www.bceab.ca. The website features a refreshed look and new layout. The Board has also rewritten the website and all its guides and information sheets to be clearer and easier to understand.
Featured on the website is a new Code of Conduct for all parties, participants, interveners and representatives who are involved in appeals before the Board. This Code clearly explains the rights and responsibilities of those appearing before the Board, to ensure that appeals proceed fairly, efficiently, and accessibly. The Code also describes steps that the Board can take where individuals fail to act appropriately during appeal processes.
The Code is an important tool for the Board, to ensure a safe and supportive environment for all those who appear before it. This will help to ensure that appeals—which can be emotionally draining processes—are conducted in a way that is trauma informed, culturally sensitive, and respectful of the diversity of those involved in appeals.
The website also includes another important addition: the Board’s procedures required under the Public Interest Disclosure Act. These procedures come into force on April 1, 2022. They outline how employees and former employees can raise the alarm about misuse of government funds and other wrongdoing within government bodies, protections that extend to whistle-blowers, and how the Board will investigate and report on reports of wrongdoing.
More material, including expanded electronic hearings rules, should be posted in the coming weeks. It is an exciting period of change for the Board. Please visit our new website to keep up-to-date on developments as they happen.
Darrell Le Houillier
Chair
Environmental Appeal Board