Recent changes to Canadian Environmental Assessment (EA) processes and practices are described. Particular attention is given to the comprehensive reforms made at the federal level. These encompass, inter alia, a new legal regime for project EA and the introduction of a Cabinet directive on policy-level assessment. Operational changes presaged under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act 1995 are evaluated in terms of whether they constitute a much improved process that is consistent with sustainability objectives and principles. In that context, policy-level assessment is of even greater potential signficance; however, to date, the record of application by federal agencies is mixed at best. Federal experience is also compared with trends and developments in provincial EA processes. The paper concludes with a review of the challenges facing Canadian EA practice, in general; and readers may note parallels with Australian experience, whether coincidental or reflecting a similar constitutional inheritance and geopolitics of federalism.