Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements

Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA) is a program of the Government of Canada that provides financial assistance to provincial and territorial governments following large-scale natural disasters.

Provinces can apply to the program for assistance when eligible costs exceed one dollar per capita,{{cite news|last=Fekete|first=Jason|title=Alberta flooding unlikely to stymie federal plans to slay deficit|url=http://o.canada.com/news/national/alberta-flooding-unlikely-to-stymie-federal-plans-to-slay-deficit/|accessdate=9 February 2014|newspaper=Postmedia Network|date=June 27, 2013}} at which point the federal government will share 50% of the cost. If the costs exceed $3 per capita this rises to 75%, and when costs reach $5 per capita, the federal government is required to pay 90 per cent of the costs.{{cite news|last=Flanagan|first=Tom|title=Some hard-headed thinking about living by the water|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/some-hard-headed-thinking-about-living-by-the-water/article12840225/|accessdate=9 February 2014|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=June 27, 2013}}{{cite web|title=Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA)|url=http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/mrgnc-mngmnt/rcvr-dsstrs/dsstr-fnncl-ssstnc-rrngmnts/index-eng.aspx|publisher=Government of Canada|accessdate=9 February 2014}}

Since its inception in 1970, a 2011–12 report stated that the program had paid out $2 billion in post-disaster assistance.{{cite web|title=2011 - 20 12 Evaluation of the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangement s Program|url=http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2012/sp-ps/PS4-130-2012-eng.pdf|publisher=Public Safety Canada|accessdate=9 February 2014}} Following the 2013 Alberta floods, $2 billion was earmarked for the province and the government sought a $689-million increase in funding for the program from parliament.{{cite news|last=Thompson|first=Elizabeth|title=Alberta to get $2B in federal flood clean up relief, supplementary estimates reveal|url=http://www.ipolitics.ca/2013/11/07/alberta-to-get-2-billion-in-federal-flood-clean-up-relief/|accessdate=9 February 2014|newspaper=iPolitics|date=Nov 7, 2013}}

The program has come under criticism for favouring some provinces over others, and for not including public health emergencies in its remit.{{cite book|last1=Doern|first1=G. Bruce|title=Rules, Rules, Rules, Rules: Multilevel Regulatory Governance|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn= 9780802038586|page=342|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-8eiWhiurHcC&dq=Disaster+Financial+Assistance+Arrangements&pg=PA342|first2=Robert|last2=Johnson|accessdate=9 February 2014|year=2006}}

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:400px; height:200px;" |+ DFAA Payments 2007 to 2011
Province/Territory ! $ millions
British Columbia | 72
Alberta | 68
Northwest Territories | 60
Yukon | 32
Nunavut | 30
Saskatchewan | 17
Manitoba | 12
Ontario | 3
Quebec | 2
New Brunswick | 1
Nova Scotia | 1
Prince Edward Island | 0
Newfoundland and Labrador | 0
TOTAL | 298

Events that have received funding include 1996 Saguenay Flood, 1997 Red River flood, 2010 Hurricane Igor in Newfoundland and the 2011 Assiniboine River Flood.