Northern Contaminated Sites Program
The Government of Canada is responsible for the management of a portfolio of contaminated sites in the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
The contamination of these properties is the result of private sector mining and oil and gas activities and government military activity that occurred more than 50 years ago, when environmental impacts were not fully understood.
What the program does
The objective of the Northern Contaminated Sites Program is to manage contaminated sites in a cost-effective and consistent manner. The program aims to reduce or eliminate, where possible, risks to human and environmental health, and to decrease the federal environmental liability associated with contaminated sites in the North. Priority is given to those sites posing the highest risks.
The 8 largest abandoned mine projects in the Yukon and the Northwest Territories are administered through the new Northern Abandoned Mine Reclamation Program, announced in Budget 2019.
The remaining sites in the North continue to be managed under the Northern Contaminated Sites Program and are funded through Environment and Climate Change Canada's Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan.
Policies associated with the Northern Contaminated Sites Program: