Guide for Crown land use planning

October 2020

Executive summary

The Guide for Crown land use planning (the Guide) outlines the direction that must be applied to all Crown land use planning carried out under the authority of the Public Lands Act (PLA), south of the Far North boundary, as well as to land use planning on Crown land within the two municipalities located north of the Far North boundary (Pickle Lake and Moosonee).^{footnote 1[1]} The Guide does not apply to community based land use planning on Crown lands under the Far North Act.

The Introduction outlines that the Guide is created under the minister’s ability to create policies and guidelines for land use planning under Section 12.1 (1) of the PLA, and that a “standard” in the Guide is mandatory direction.

Part I of the Guide provides provincial direction for Crown land use planning processes and contains:

• principles to guide Crown land use planning (Section 2.3)
• guidance on maintaining and updating the Crown Land Use Policy Atlas (CLUPA) (Section 3.1)
• categories of Crown land use planning (basic, complex and comprehensive) (Section 3.2) and associated planning approaches (Section 3.0)
• standard planning steps required in Crown land use planning processes (Section 3.3)
• guidance on the application of project management practices in Crown land use planning processes (Section 3.3.2)
• advice on the development of planning goals and objectives (Section 3.3.4)
• approaches for the evaluation of options in Crown land use planning (Section 3.3.6)
• direction on Indigenous peoples’ involvement in Crown land use planning (Section 4.2)
• approval processes for Crown land use planning decisions (Section 5.0)
• guidance on adding acquired lands to the Crown land base (Section 5.3)
• guidance on the scope of Crown land use planning (Section 6.0)
• guidance on how broad policy is applied in Crown land use planning (Section 7.0)
• guidance on the relationship between provincial policy and local land use policy (Section 7.2)
• an explanation of the difference between Crown land use designations and values (Section 8.5)
• when and where to apply the interim protection policies (Section 10.0)
• guidance on how to consider key resource activities in Crown land use planning, as well as guidance on the relationship of the Room to Grow policy to Crown land use planning (Section 11.0)

Part II of the Guide contains the provincial direction for the six primary Crown land use designations:

• Recommended Provincial Park (Section 12.1)
• Recommended Conservation Reserve (Section 12.2)
• Provincial Wildlife Area (Section 12.3)
• Forest Reserve (Section 12.4)
• Enhanced Management Area (Section 12.5)
• General Use Area (Section 12.6)

In addition, factors to consider when applying specific land use designations in planning processes are outlined throughout Part II.