The INAC 2010 Risk Assessment Map is a 4 x 4 grid, resulting in 4 boxes across by 4 boxes down (i.e. 16 equally sized boxes).

The Y axis, which runs vertically from top to bottom, is labelled “Impact” and represents the magnitude of effect that a risk will have on departmental objectives, with 1 being the lowest (bottom of axis) and 4 being the highest impact (top of axis).

The X axis, which runs horizontally from left to right, is labelled “Likelihood” and measures how probable a risk is to happen in the department.  A rating of 1 (far left of the X axis) measures the lowest likelihood risk and 4 (far right on the X axis) measures the most likely risk.

The intersection of the impact and the likelihood ratings lands in one of the 16 boxes which are color coded.  Following description contains a pair of numbers followed by color code denotes the risk level.
The first number indicates the level of likelihood and the second number indicates the level of impact.
Risks that land in a “Green” box are considered low risk;
Those in a “Yellow” box are considered moderate risk;
Those landing in the “Orange” box are high risks; and
The “Red” boxes represent extreme risks. 

Each box is colour coded as follows:

Green: represented by boxes with these pairs of numbers (1, 1); (1, 2) and (2, 1)
Yellow: represented by boxes with these pairs of numbers (1, 3); (2, 2) and (3, 1)
Orange: represented by boxes with theses pairs of numbers (1, 4); (2, 3); (3, 2); (3, 3), (4, 1) and (4, 2)
Red: represented by boxes with these pairs of numbers (2, 4); (3, 4); (4, 3) and (4, 4)

The eight risk areas identified by INAC are rated as follow:

Risk 1: Human Resources Capacity and Capability risk is rated high in box (3, 2) orange with likelihood level 3 and impact level 2
Risk 2: Information for Decision-making risk is rated high in box (3, 3) orange with likelihood level 3 and impact level 3
Risk 3: Implementation risk is rated high in box (3, 3) orange with likelihood level 3 and impact level 3
Risk 4: Resource Alignment risk is rated high in box (3, 3) orange with likelihood level 3 and impact level 3
Risk 5: Government Partnership risk is rated high in box (3, 2) orange with likelihood level 3 and impact level 2
Risk 6: Aboriginal Relationships risk is rated high in box (3, 3) orange with likelihood level 3 and impact level 3
Risk 7: External Partnership risk is rated high in box (3, 2) orange with likelihood level 3 and impact level 2
Risk 8: Legal risk is rated extreme in box (4, 3) red with likelihood level 4 and impact level 3