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Information for First Nations Governments

Last updated on February 24, 2025

This page contains a list of resources for First Nations Governments to support an understanding of contaminated sites regulation in B.C. This includes resources for:

  • Understanding the site remediation process
  • Identifying known contaminated sites within a First Nation's territory
  • Understanding known risks associated with a contaminated site

On this page

Who manages contaminated sites?

Two provincial agencies are responsible for ensuring contaminated sites are cleaned up and meet specific land use standards:

  • The Site Remediation Program within the Ministry of Environment and Parks, and
  • The BC Energy Regulator

Read the section below to learn more about these agencies and how you can contact them. 

Ministry of Environment and Parks: Site Remediation Program

The Site Remediation Program regulates the identification, investigation and remediation of contaminated sites in British Columbia under the Environmental Management Act and Contaminated Sites Regulation.

The ministry understands how important it is to keep the province healthy and beautiful, and the ministry's services support development in communities, while protecting human health and the environment. The program focuses on remediation of:

  • Brownfields
  • Orphan sites
  • Complex, high risk contaminated sites

The ministry also

 The Site Remediation program is not responsible for the clean-up of oil and gas sites. 

Site Remediation program contacts

BC Energy Regulator 

This provincial single-window regulatory agency is responsible for regulating energy activities in British Columbia including cleanup of contamination from all oil and gas operations, refineries, and geothermal development.

Regulatory responsibility is delegated by the Province of British Columbia to the BC Energy Regulator through the Energy Resource Activities Act to provide a streamlined one-stop regulatory agency for oil and gas sites. The BC Energy Regulator protects public safety and safeguards the environment through the sound regulation of energy activities in B.C., while balancing a broad range of environmental, economic and social considerations.

From exploration through to final reclamation, they work closely with Indigenous peoples, communities and land owners, and confirm industry compliance with provincial legislation.

BC Energy Regulator contacts

Remediation of Reserve Lands

The Federal Contaminated Sites On-Reserve program is responsible for managing contaminated sites on reserve lands and any other lands that fall under Indigenous Services Canada’s responsibility.

Indigenous Services Canada contacts

Remediation of public (Crown) lands

Crown Contaminated Sites Program

The Crown Contaminated Sites Program under the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship focuses on cleaning up high risk contaminated sites on Crown land. These are typically remote, unpermitted historic mine sites where people or companies that created the contamination can't be found or no longer exist. This program uses a science-based approach for assessing human and environmental health risks to identify high risk sites and prioritize them for remediation.

BC Mines Authorizations

The Abandoned Mines Branch of the Ministry of Mining and Critical Materials enforces reclamation provisions of mining legislation to ensure that land, watercourses and cultural heritage resources are returned to a safe and environmentally sound state. For more information, see British Columbia Mine Information.

Tools

Site Registry

The Site Registry stores information about contaminated sites across B.C. It can be used to access government records about the identification, investigation or remediation of a site.

The Site Registry can also be searched by a defined area to determine all the known sites within that area. This information can be useful for land use planning as well as considering cumulative effects of contamination in an area.

The province understands that access to information about contaminated sites is crucial for respecting First Nations' rights to self-determination and cultural preservation and is essential for effective participation in discussions and decisions related to remediation as well as policy development initiatives.

  • Use iMapBC to view locations of properties listed on the Site Registry by adding the Environmental Remediation Sites layer. 

Soil relocation information system

 

The Soil Relocation Information System is a database that allows First Nations, local governments and other interested parties to learn about soil relocation activity in B.C. The database includes a searchable map and data about soil relocation activities across the province.

You can also subscribe to be notified of soil relocation or high volume receiving site registrations in an area.

Waste discharge authorizations

 

The Authorization Management System stores all documentation for waste discharge authorizations issued by the Authorizations and Remediation Branch of the Ministry of Environment and Parks. You can search AMS for documents for one authorization or do a broad search for a group of authorizations.

You can find information related to authorizations, such as:

  • A copy of an authorization
  • Documents supporting an authorization
  • Discharge limits
  • Reporting requirements

This information could be useful when considering cumulative effects of industry in an area.

Training and webinars

Contaminated Sites Learning Series

The Contaminated Sites Learning Series includes 29 informational videos that describe everything you need to know about contaminated sites legislation, as well as how to submit applications.

Risk assessment webinars

This series of videos on Contaminated Site Risk Assessment was developed for First Nations that have questions about clean-up of contamination in their territories from mining operations, fuel spills, and other activities that cause release of chemicals into the environment.

GeoEnviroPro weekly webinars

GeoEnviroPro Talks are a series of FREE weekly environmental webinars allowing attendees to learn about specific topics related to environmental sciences and contaminated sites. GeoEnviroPro Talks are held every Wednesday at 10 am Pacific time. If you can’t attend the live sessions, the replays are online for 48 hours after the live event.