Helping people, communities affected by flooding. (flickr.com)

Media Contacts

Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness

Media Relations
250-880-6430

Backgrounders

Facts about Disaster Financial Assistance
  • Disaster Financial Assistance (DFA) is intended to compensate for sudden, unexpected and uninsurable losses. Eligible costs may include building repairs, replacement of essential personal effects, eligible equipment and inventory, and clean up and debris removal.
  • DFA cannot cover losses where insurance was reasonably and readily available, and does not provide compensation for certain types of personal belongings. These include:
    • damage to items located in basements, crawl spaces or similar low-lying storage areas, unless the basement, crawl space or storage area was being used as an essential living area
    • outbuildings, detached or semi-detached garages or carports, or their contents
    • recreational structures, such as hot tubs, patios, pools, fences or landscaping
    • personal items, such as jewelry, collectibles, artwork, antiques, silverware, furs, decorative items, money and securities, or books and printed material
    • recreational items, such as fishing, hunting or camping equipment, audio-visual, camera or dark-room equipment, skates, skis, bicycles, games, toys, garden tools or lawn furniture
  • Homeowners and residential tenants must show that the home is their principal residence. Seasonal or recreational properties are not eligible for assistance.
  • A claim may be made in more than one category (e.g., homeowner and farm owner).
  • Other ineligible items include insurance deductibles, non-essential recreational items, land lost due to erosion, landscaping and luxury goods.
  • Small business applicants must earn at least $10,000 per year in revenue from the business and have gross sales less than $2 million per year.
  • Farm owners must show the farm is owned and operated by a person whose full-time employment is farming and be the means by which the owner generates the majority of their income.
  • DFA is limited to restoring actual damage caused by a specific disaster that has been declared eligible for compensation.
  • For approved claims, financial assistance covers 80% of total eligible damage that exceeds $1,000, to a maximum payment of $400,000.
  • In recent years, the Province has strengthened and expanded the DFA program to better support people and communities. These changes included:
    • increased maximum DFA support available per claim from $300,000 to $400,000
    • expanded eligibility for small businesses based on minimum income
    • raised annual revenue threshold for small businesses from $1 million to $2 million, so more businesses can qualify for DFA
    • expanded eligibility for the farming sector to include homes owned by corporations when the home is used as a primary residence
    • increased provincial contributions to local infrastructure recovery.
    • The Province may provide a portion of a project’s estimated costs up front to help communities rebuild critical infrastructure projects quicker.