Building Forward Together: Toward a more resilient Canada – Final report of the Expert Advisory Panel on the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements

Press Release

Table of contents

We respectfully acknowledge that the planning, preparation and facilitation of the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements Expert Panel review occurred on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe peoples, Kanien’kehà:ka territory and the territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples.

As Panel members met virtually throughout the spring and summer of 2022, we acknowledge that the members joined meetings from Indigenous lands across Turtle Island. Members participated from Stó:lō, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ territories, as well as the homelands of the Métis Nation in the west. In the east, members joined from Mi’kmaq’ki (Mi’kmaq Territory), Kanien’kehà:ka territory and Anishinaabe territory. Members also joined from the traditional territories of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation, and the Ta’an Kwäch’an Council in the North, and the Medicine Line from Anishinabek, Menominee, and Potawatomi territories and the territories of the Creek Nation.

We acknowledge that the draft writing of the report occurred on unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe peoples and the Nibinamik First Nation, member of the Matawa First Nations, and of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation in Treaty 9 territory.

Message from the Expert Advisory Panel Chair

The federal government has a long history of supporting communities that have suffered a significant disaster, providing billions of dollars of financial assistance over the years to help communities repair, rebuild and recover. At a time when the risk, frequency and impacts of disasters are increasing in Canada, it is essential this support remains available and is financially sustainable.

The Government of Canada created the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA) program in 1970 to support provinces and territories when the cost of a disaster exceeds what they could reasonably be expected to bear on their own. Much has changed since then in Canada’s disaster risk landscape, and it has become clear that the DFAA program must do more to address the disproportionate impacts of disasters on vulnerable populations and to incentivize risk reduction and build long-term resilience to disasters.

Earlier this year, the President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Emergency Preparedness, the Honourable Bill Blair, convened our Advisory Panel to examine the DFAA and provide recommendations to ensure the long-term effectiveness and sustainability of the program in the face of rising disaster impacts. I and my fellow panelists were honoured to undertake this important task and to provide input into the timely review of Canada’s approach to post-disaster financing and the DFAA program in the face of changing risks.

Based on the work we conducted over the spring and summer, we reached two key conclusions. First, the DFAA program has a unique role to play in the post-disaster context and must be modernized and streamlined so it can enable and support actions that will lead to long-term resilience and risk reduction. Second, there is a need for greater integration of and investment in climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction across all federal programs, including the DFAA.

This Final Report provides details about our findings and contains a series of specific recommendations on how the updated DFAA program should be designed so it can continue providing disaster support and assistance in the face of increasing demands on the program. It also includes recommendations for other steps the federal government should take to improve disaster resiliency across Canada and increase the sustainability of the DFAA program.

The Panel has framed its recommendations within the context of building forward together, which means not aiming to simply repair and recover losses incurred during a disaster event but to work in collaboration with each other toward building better, stronger and more risk-resilient communities. We believe that implementing these recommendations will improve the long-term effectiveness and viability of disaster financing in Canada.

I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the work of the Expert Advisory Panel, starting with the panelists who brought a diverse range of expertise and experience to our discussions. I would also like to thank the many people we met with and heard from, including representatives of provincial and territorial governments, representatives from National Indigenous Organizations, non-profit organizations, and Canadian academics and practitioners in disaster resilience.

Throughout our deliberations, we have been conscious of the need for a whole-of-society approach to achieving disaster resiliency. We hope this report will contribute to fostering collaboration among all Canadians to make our country stronger and more resilient in the years to come.

Rebecca Denlinger

IHT5

Building Forward Together: Toward a more resilient Canada – Final report of the Expert Advisory Panel on the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements

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