CCRA Federal Bill C-5 Comments

The CCRA’s #1 priority is to advocate for archaeology and the Cultural Resource Management sector at the national level. 

The CCRA Steering Committee has reviewed Canada Bill C5 and we’re preparing to engage with federal legislators to ensure that CRM professionals have a voice in its implementation. 

The Key Areas we’ll address include:

1. Indigenous Peoples’ right to maintain, protect and develop their heritage.

2. Labour Mobility - we agree that professional certifications and approvals need better coordination. Limits to labour mobility in CRM is a key contributor to the CRM Capacity Crisis, but we also need to ensure that regulations respect and require Regional Expertise.

3. Timelines - We agree there are concerns with regulatory review and approval timelines and we can identify areas for improvement. In our experience, projects go quickly when all of the stakeholders and rights holders are at the table from the start.

   Timelines still need to be realistic - archaeology takes time to do right, and we don’t get “do-overs”. 

4. Capacity - we see Canada gearing up for major infrastructure investment when CRM capacity is already at its limits - we need investment in educational and training programs to help meet this need.

We’ve seen previous attempts to “Fast Track” and “Cut Red Tape”. In most cases these actually result in even more confusion and delays. As the boots on the ground, we need to have a voice to keep that from happening here.

The CCRA will continue to follow and respond to this issue.