Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment

CCME is the primary minister-led intergovernmental forum for collective action on environmental issues of national and international concern.      

CCME is composed of the environment ministers from the federal, provincial and territorial governments. The role of President of CCME rotates among the 14 ministers of environment on an annual basis. These 14 ministers normally meet at least once a year to discuss national environmental priorities and determine work to be carried out under the auspices of CCME. The Council seeks to achieve positive environmental results, focusing on issues that are Canada-wide in scope and that require collective attention by a number of governments. Since environment is constitutionally an area of shared jurisdiction, it makes sense to work together to promote effective results. 

Ministers set the strategic direction for the Council, setting out the broad outcomes they seek to achieve. Senior officials establish working groups of experts from the federal, provincial, and territorial environmental ministries to work collaboratively to accomplish specific goals, with the support of a permanent secretariat. In most cases, group membership may include experts from other relevant government departments (such as Health). Depending on the nature of the work, expertise from the private sector, academia, Indigenous groups, environmental and health public interest groups may be sought. 

CCME is supported financially and in kind by the environment departments of the governments of Alberta, British Columbia, Canada, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Québec, Saskatchewan and Yukon.

The current working groups are:

• Air Management Committee
• Climate Change Committee
• Contaminated Sites Working Group
• Cumulative Effects Working Group
• Environmental Emergencies Working Group
• Waste Reduction and Recovery Committee
• Water Management Committee