Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA)

Who is eligible?

• Provincial and territorial governments are the sole eligible recipients of funding.

Who is not eligible

• People and communities cannot apply directly to the DFAA.

Eligible expenses

• Pre-emptive action costs when danger to life and property is imminent and instructions/orders are given by appropriate public authorities.
• Repair, rebuilding, and restoration costs for eligible damaged infrastructure and assets.
• Disaster resilience enhancement costs under Streams 2 and 3, up to 15% of the cost to restore the asset to standard replacement value.
• Strategic mitigation costs under Stream 5.

Ineligible Costs and Activities

• Costs of restoring or replacing items that were insured or insurable.
• Loss of income, wages, profits, revenue, production, productivity, opportunity, or market value.
• Expenditures reimbursable under another federal program.
• New construction, non-structural mitigation projects such as engineering studies or flood plain mapping, and public awareness initiatives.

• Provinces and territories request financial assistance within six months of the end date of the eligible disaster.
• The request takes the form of a letter from the Premier of the province or territory to the Prime Minister or from the provincial or territorial Minister responsible for emergency preparedness to the federal Minister.
• For the DRR Incentive, the province or territory completes a self-assessment using the self-assessment tool.
• The province or territory submits the self-assessment to Public Safety Canada.

• Public Safety Canada reviews the provincial or territorial claim and determines eligibility during the final audit.
• Advance and progress payments are subject to a federal risk assessment.
• Final payments are made to close out the final claim.
• Public Safety Canada may complete an assurance activity on the final payment request before issuing the final payment.
• Overpayments may be recovered by reimbursement or by reducing future Government of Canada payments.

• The DFAA program applies to eligible disasters occurring on or after April 1, 2025, with former Guidelines continuing to apply to eligible disasters before that date.
• Requests for financial assistance must be made within six months of the end of the eligible disaster.
• Provinces and territories must follow the DFAA Guidelines when making requests and submitting expenses.
• Final claims are subject to provincial and federal audit review before payment is issued.