YESAB is an independent arms-length body, responsible for the assessment responsibilities of the YESAA.
Determining the significance of the effects associated with proposed projects is a central tenet in environmental and socio-economic assessment.
An important part of any assessment is identifying valued environmental and socio-economic components (VESECs) that may be impacted by a proposed project and the condition or state of those VESECs before a proposed project (or different phases of a proposed project) is undertaken.
Asserted and established Aboriginal and Final Agreement rights are considered in assessments conducted under YESAA in two ways. 1. They can help inform or guide the choice of VESECs utilized in an assessment. 2. They may provide context relevant to determining the significance of likely adverse effects of the project on identified VESECs. [Under Review – 2025]
YESAA has provisions for the Executive Committee to undertake studies and research set out in s. 112. Requests can be made by the Government of Canada, Yukon government, or Yukon First Nations governments.
Read more about how requests for a study or research can be requested (NEW)
The term “temporal scope” is not defined in YESAA. In order to set the temporal scope of projects, therefore, YESAB relied primarily on s.47 of YESAA to inform its approach. [Under Review – 2025]
Proponent commitments are assurances by the proponent to take certain actions over the life of the project. During a project evaluation, YESAB assessors extract statements by proponents committing to take certain actions from the project proposal or subsequent correspondence, e.g. a response to an information request.
Policy guidance: Regional land use plan considerations in YESAA assessments
This policy guidance provides Decision Bodies, First Nations, proponents, and other assessment participants with information regarding the mechanisms in the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act (YESAA) and the Umbrella Final Agreement (UFA) linking regional land use planning processes to assessment processes in Yukon, and how pending and approved regional land use plans will be considered in YESAB assessments.
Access the policy guidance document on Regional land use plan considerations in YESAA assessments
YESAB is required to maintain a register of all documents that are produced, collected and received in relation to assessments. The document registry we maintain is guided by our records management policy and in accordance with s.118 and s.119 of the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act (the Act). YESAB also maintains an online registry (YOR) to empower participants to access assessment related documents online at any time. In this way, the YOR helps us to facilitate and enable meaningful participation in the assessment processes conducted by YESAB.