2023 Reports 6 to 10 of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development to the Parliament of CanadaCanadians use environmental petitions to get answers from ministers

Ottawa, 7 November 2023—Today, Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development Jerry V. DeMarco released the 2023 Environmental Petitions Annual Report to inform Parliament and Canadians about the number, nature, and status of petitions and ministers’ responses.

From 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada received 28 environmental petitions. The petitions raised concerns about the monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions, construction activities, electromagnetic hypersensitivity, and pesticide use.

The two federal organizations that received the most petitions were Environment and Climate Change Canada, with 14 petitions, followed closely by Health Canada with 12. Three other federal organizations also received at least 5 petitions, namely, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, National Capital Commission, and Transport Canada.

Environmental petitions are a unique way for Canadian residents—acting as individuals or on behalf of an organization—to bring their concerns and questions about environmental issues to the attention of federal ministers and be guaranteed a response. Departments have 120 days to respond to a petition. The Commissioner administers the petitions process on behalf of the Auditor General of Canada.

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The 2023 Reports of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Report 10—Environmental Petitions Annual Report, is available on the Office of the Auditor General of Canada website.

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