Impact Assessment and Mitigation Process (IAMP)

In 2015, the Québec Port Authority (QPA) set up an internal impact assessment process called the Environmental Citizen Participation Process (ECPP) to meet the requirements of the Impact Assessment Act (IAA) and to gain a better understanding of the environmental and social impact generated by projects on the port territory.

Since 2024, the QPA has implemented the IAMP, a new version of the process that meets current regulatory requirements while encouraging active participation from affected citizens and First Nations.

The IAMP is based on the projects’ environmental risk, meaning the likelihood of them having significant negative environmental or social effects. The project will be assessed differently by the QPA depending on this analysis. 

There are five project levels that reflect the level of risk assessed by the QPA team based on rigorous predefined criteria.

Once the level has been determined by the QPA, a directive is then sent to the project applicant to indicate the steps to follow to implement or assess the project. Level 3 (high impact) projects are automatically transferred to the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, which ends the IAMP.

Analysis times correspond to the complexity and significance of the anticipated impacts (level of risk). They range from a single day for projects that are considered emergencies (within the meaning of the IAA, 2019) to 110 days for more complex level 2 projects.

To know the expected analysis times for each risk level, Consult the detailed PEAI table.