ARCHIVED - Improvement to the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA)
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The Government of Canada provides financial assistance to provincial and territorial governments through the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA) for large natural disasters when response and recovery costs exceed what individual provinces or territories could reasonably be expected to bear on their own.
Requests for reimbursement under the DFAA are processed following receipt of the required provincial/territorial documentation and the subsequent federal audit. The percentage of eligible costs reimbursed under the DFAA is determined by a pre-defined cost-sharing formula.
On January 1, 2008, the Government of Canada revised the DFAA Guidelines to streamline the payment process, expand the eligibility criteria, and introduce measures to share the cost for improvements to damaged infrastructure to protect against future disasters (see 3.3 Disaster recovery mitigation measures). The federal share of enhancements was limited to 15 percent of the cost of each infrastructure repair or restoration project.
The funding for mitigative enhancements was applied by the federal government on a project-by-project basis, which posed an administrative burden on the provinces and territories and did not allow provinces/territories to apply the total federal cost-sharing in a way that best meets the needs of their communities.
The latest improvement to the DFAA Guidelines gives provinces and territories the flexibility to identify the highest priority for federal investments in improvements to damaged infrastructure. The federal funds for improvements are still limited to 15 percent of the total cost of all repairs to infrastructure to pre-disaster condition, but provinces/territories can now pool the money for all projects and apply it to one or more larger projects, to the benefit of the affected community.
Examples of improvements to damaged public infrastructure include: enlarging a culvert beside a road in a flood prone area, raising a bridge to prevent it from being washed away, or extending a dike.
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