Interdepartmental Land Use Committee (ILUC)

In August 1983 Cabinet approved the formation of the Interdepartmental Land Use Committee (ILUC) and issued a Memorandum of Council stating that the Committee would become the body that would coordinate government’s resource development activities. All government departments were advised that any legislation, regulation, policy, plan, etc. involving the use of Crown or public lands, must be referred to ILUC prior to approval and implementation or, where conflict cannot be resolved, approved by either the Minister of Government Services or Cabinet.

ILUC strives to ensure that public sector policies and decisions on land use and resource management are related and complementary. This is essentially an “integrated resource management” process and the key lies in the willingness of the participants to reach mutually acceptable agreements. The Environmental and Land Use program develops the Wildlife Division’s recommendations on ILUC projects, which are submitted through the director of the Wildlife Division.

To better illustrate the responsibilities of ILUC, the following are some of the committee’s operating guidelines:

  • All proposals involving the use of Crown or public lands, other than lands acquired for a specific purpose, shall be referred to ILUC. Examples of such proposals are:
    • municipal or regional plans
    • community or regional watersheds
    • municipal boundary changes
    • agriculture, forestry, wildlife, park, mineral aggregate, ecological and wilderness reserves
    • cultural, historic and recreational sites
    • major road, hydro, forestry and other service roads
    • legislation, regulations or guidelines affecting the use of Crown or public lands.
  • Members are required to represent their departments on any particular issue.
  • Membership is voluntary and open to any department or agency with a vested interest, and is generally at the director level or equivalent.
  • Issues which cannot be satisfactorily resolved by the Committee will be conveyed in writing to the appropriate deputy minister.
  • Unusual or exceptional issues that cannot be resolved by the Minister responsible for Land Management, will be referred to Cabinet.
  • The committee is not intended to interfere with existing responsibilities assigned to various government agencies or to replace the environmental assessment process.