Ontario’s environmental commissioner has found that some government ministries are falling behind on their homework.

Tabled Tuesday, the commissioner’s annual report on government compliance with the province’s Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR), a law that entitles Ontarians to participate in environmental decision-making, says some ministries are having trouble keeping up with their responsibilities.

The commissioner’s office said that, in 2015-16, it “found that ministries with a light EBR workload generally execute their few obligations well. Ministries with moderate and heavy EBR workloads are more likely to have instances of non-compliance or poor execution of their responsibilities.”

Under the Environmental Bill of Rights, the report notes, the public has the right to comment on a wide variety of government proposals, including those tied to policies, regulations and approvals and permits (such as mining exploration permits and permits to take water).

Ontarians are also allowed to ask for reviews of laws involving the environment, and to challenge decisions that are being made.

The commissioner’s report this year was actually a report card – a change in format for the office – that examined 14 ministries and how they carried out their duties under the Environmental Bill of Rights. The responsibilities for the offices vary, and, unsurprisingly, the busiest ones include the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, which were dinged for taking their time in carrying out some of their responsibilities.

One specific bugaboo for the environmental commissioner had to do with the timeliness of posting decision notices on Ontario’s environmental registry.

“Ministries’ evaluations in this category were poorer than in any other,” stated the report. “Almost every ministry that posted decision notices in 2015/2016 performed unacceptably in at least one of the sub-categories, and in some cases both.”

The commissioner’s office is recommending there be a two-week window following a decision within which a notice should be posted on the registry.

The commissioner also noted that “timeliness was a problem” in how the ministries were dealing with applications for the laws and regulations, or for investigations into potential breaches of those rules. The report says the environment and natural resources ministries “are guilty of taking an unreasonably long time to conclude reviews – effectively abandoning them and leaving the applicants in the dark.”

The commissioner called on the two ministries to finish up all overdue reviews this fiscal year, and to move more quickly in the future.

“Ontarians cannot exercise their rights under the EBR if prescribed ministries do not do their part,” says the report. “For the public to be engaged on environmental issues, it is critical that ministries provide the public with prompt and meaningful information about environmentally significant proposals and decisions, and be accountable for those decisions. When this doesn’t happen, the public’s EBR rights are thwarted – and so too is the very purpose of the EBR.”

Read the full report here.

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Busier ministries lagging on environmental responsibilities, commissioner says

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