Natural resource permitting plays a significant role in the government’s strategy to strengthen and diversify our economy. B.C. is working across the natural resource sector to streamline permitting, remove barriers and delays, eliminate duplication, and simplify processes while maintaining high environmental standards and our commitment under the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. As part of this work, teams across the natural resource ministries were tasked with identifying areas that would increase efficiency, remove redundancy, and/or reduce administrative burden. Opportunities with the highest potential for impact and timely implementation are being considered for recommendation to Government.
Qualified professionals and permitting applications
Permit applications must have clear, complete, and evidence-based information to ensure clarity, better outcomes and streamlined permit decisions. Identifying appropriately qualified professionals, and the work and experience in wetlands management that they bring to the application process is fundamentally important to an efficient review.
What’s the challenge?
Permit applications that lack clear and complete information often take longer to review. Applicants may be asked to complete further assessments, provide additional information and reports at their own expense, and the permit decision can be delayed indefinitely. To avoid this, permit applications should include a clear understanding of the information provided from qualified professionals.
In most cases, the people who complete environmental assessments for wetlands are registered professionals who are accredited in B.C. and governed by their profession’s regulatory organizations. These professionals include:
- Engineers
- Geoscientists
- Biologists
- Agrologists
- Foresters
- Technologists and Technicians
However, the Water Sustainability Act does not define who is considered a qualified professional in wetlands management, nor does it set accountability expectations for them.
What’s being considered?
The Province is considering whether to better define the term “Qualified Professionals” under the Water Sustainability Act and Water Sustainability Regulation as they relate to wetlands to clarify who should provide professional advice and services related to wetlands.
In addition, the Province is considering whether the “Qualified Professionals” should include an assurance statement in their wetlands’ environmental assessments as a minimum application requirement. This would confirm that the information provided meets relevant professional standards and expectations. Assurance statements are common in other natural resource permitting work and can increase clarity, procedural trust and regulatory compliance. This is envisioned to potentially support a more streamlined and efficient review process for applications related to wetlands.
We want to hear from you
If you have feedback on these topics, please let us know by completing this survey: Wetlands professional accountability
The survey closes December 12, 2025
Learn more about our other identified opportunities to improve natural resource permitting on the govTogetherBC website.