Parliamentary Committee Notes: Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA) – SECU Meeting

Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024:

Events (location, year) & Provinces Implicated in the Supps B Process

The reprofile approved $1.3 billion in funding for provinces and territories, allowing PS to manage the program for FY 2024-25 and FY 2025-26. Additional funds were needed to meet ongoing liabilities, including for the BC Extreme Weather and Hurricane Fiona.

Reprofile Approval and Funding Shortage:

• The reprofile approved $1.3 billion of funding for provinces and territories to assist in FY 2024-25 and FY 2025-26. $800 million of this was reprofiled for this FY, leaving the remaining amount for next FY.
• Funding for the DFAA is approved by Parliament through the appropriation act for the Main Estimates at $100 million annually. Due to the unpredictable nature of the frequency and magnitude of natural disasters, $100 million is typically insufficient to cover all requests for federal assistance under the DFAA. When payments are anticipated to exceed the reference levels of the Department, additional appropriations are sought to supplement this amount.
• PS plans to submit a budget request in Budget 2025 for appropriations to cover future liabilities.

DFAA Program Background And Process

• The DFAA program is intended to support the PTs in:
• providing or reinstating the necessities of life to individuals, including help to repair and restore damaged homes;
• re-establishing or maintaining the viability of small businesses and working farms;
• repairing, rebuilding and restoring public works and the essential community services to their pre-disaster capabilities; and
• funding limited mitigation measures to reduce the future vulnerability of repaired or replaced infrastructure.
• DFAA Process:
• When a natural disaster hits, the PT will design and action their response and recovery program and can request federal financial assistance through the DFAA.
• Once requested, PS is required under the Emergency Management Act to create an Order in Council (OiC) recommendation for the Governor in Council to:
• officially declare the disaster to be of concern to the Government of Canada, and
• authorize PS to provide financial assistance under the DFAA.
• When the OiC authorizes federal financial assistance (cost-sharing) under the DFAA, PTs are advised of the cost-sharing formula for eligible expenditures.
• PTs can then request an advance and interim DFAA payments (optional) following their submission of expenditures, and this is subject to a risk assessment conducted by federal auditors. Payment is then issued after a risk assessment of submitted costs.
• The PT has up to 5 years following OiC approval to request the final payment.
• All final payments are issued after a federal compliance audited is conducted to ensure that the claimed expenses submitted for the event are eligible under the DFAA Guidelines.
• PS closes the file.

Examples of Outstanding DFAA claims that are still in the process:

Date modified:

2025-03-28