Lake of the Woods Freshwater Ecosystem Initiative — Preventing Toxic and Nuisance Algae

Who is eligible?

• Canadian applicants only, including Indigenous organizations, governments, individuals, boards, commissions, communities, associations and authorities.
• Not-for-profit organizations, including charitable and volunteer organizations, professional associations and industry associations, and non-governmental organizations.
• Municipalities.
• Research, academic and educational institutions.

Who is not eligible

• Provincial government agencies.

Eligible expenses

• Human resource costs, including salaries and benefits.
• Management and professional service costs, such as accounting, monitoring, communications, official languages translation, audit and legal charges.
• Travel, material and supplies costs, and printing, production and distribution costs.
• Equipment and capital assets purchase or rental for the purpose of implementing actions; vehicle rental and operation costs; contractors required to perform activities related to the project.
• A reasonable share of overhead and/or administrative costs; any GST/HST that is not reimbursable by Canada Revenue Agency and any PST not reimbursable by the provinces; other incremental expenditures directly related to the project, as pre-approved by ECCC.

Ineligible Costs and Activities

• Costs other than those allowed are ineligible unless specifically approved in writing by the Minister of the Environment or representatives at the time of project approval.
• Projects focused on water quantity issues.
• Projects located outside the defined geographical area.
• Projects focused on increasing production or replacing worn out equipment.
• Activities intended to directly influence and/or lobby any level of government, activities that are part of normal operations or commercial expansion, and wastewater infrastructure projects.

Eligible geographic areas

• Canadian portion of the Lake of the Woods watershed.

• Projects are assessed on whether they increase the adoption of BMPs or other approaches that reduce phosphorus loads.
• Projects are assessed on whether they demonstrate an innovative technology, approach or BMP.
• Projects are assessed on whether they support collaborative watershed planning with key partners and identify critical source areas and potential actions.
• Projects are assessed on whether they fill a nutrient-related knowledge or data gap, include an outreach or knowledge mobilization plan, and the applicant commits to sharing results and data openly.
• Projects are assessed on whether they are in a priority area, have a realistic and achievable work plan, identify or obtain required permits, represent good value for money, and include cash and/or in-kind contributions from other sources.

• Submit the application online through Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Grants and Contributions Enterprise Management System (GCEMS) via the Single Window system.
• Sign in to the Single Window system using GCKey; if you do not have a GCKey username and password, complete the sign-up process.
• Add your organization to your profile to access the GCEMS link.
• In GCEMS, select View funding opportunities and locate Lake of the Woods FEI: Preventing toxic and nuisance algae.
• Open the funding opportunity information and click Apply to start the online application process.

• Project proposals undergo a two-stage review process: administrative review by ECCC, then project evaluation by ECCC.
• All applicants, both successful and unsuccessful, are notified in writing once departmental approvals in principle have been confirmed.
• If a project is approved in principle, the applicant is contacted to negotiate a Contribution Agreement that outlines the terms and conditions of funding.
• ECCC aims to complete the Contribution Agreement process within 40 working days.
• If a Contribution Agreement is signed, expenditures made after official notification and before the agreement is signed may be considered for reimbursement, and project implementation can begin after notification pending execution of agreements or contracts.