Contributions for emergency management assistance for activities on reserve

1. Introduction

Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) has primary responsibility for fulfilling the Government of Canada's responsibilities to Indigenous people. To fulfill this mandate, ISC works collaboratively with Indigenous people, as well as with other federal departments and agencies, provinces and territories and non-governmental organizations. These responsibilities include supporting the management of emergency events on reserve, which are extraordinary in nature and represent urgent issues for the Government of Canada with regard to the health and safety of on-reserve First Nations communities. The assistance, a transfer payment in the form of a contribution came into effect April 1, 2005.

Through the Communicable Disease Control and Management Program, the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch (FNIHB) supports the delivery of public health and health promotion services to First Nations and Inuit communities, including activities related to the management of health emergencies, for example, suicide clusters requiring additional crisis response. Starting April 1, 2022 the present terms and conditions also support activities related to health emergencies, for example, public health outbreaks or the health aspects of emergencies caused by natural or accidental hazards, including disaster-related mental health impacts and treatment and primary care needs during emergency events.

Local authorities and provincial and territorial governments are responsible for emergency management activities within their respective jurisdictions. The Government of Canada has a role to play in supporting on-reserve emergency management. Section 91(24) of the Constitution Act, 1867 prescribes the legislative authority of the Parliament for Indians and lands reserved for Indians.

The Minister of Indigenous Services has various responsibilities with respect to Indigenous peoples and lands. Under section 6 of the Emergency Management Act, each federal minister is responsible for identifying risks that are within or related to their area of responsibility and for preparing, maintaining, testing and implementing emergency management plans to mitigate those risks. ISC supports the 4 basic pillars of emergency management on First Nations reserves: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.

Since the early 1970s, the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND and now ISC) exercised its responsibility by managing a framework for promoting and providing:

• emergency preparedness within First Nations communities
• emergency response and evacuation during disasters
• remediation of infrastructure and houses after emergencies such as forest fires and floods

DIAND had specific Treasury Board authority for forest fire suppression as of December 15, 1988 and expired in March 2005. This authority enabled DIAND to provide funding to provinces, First Nations or other emergency organizations for the delivery of fire suppression services. The authority was replaced by the Emergency Management Assistance Program on November 29, 2004. Under this program, the department makes contributions for emergency management assistance for activities on reserve.

ISC also provides financial assistance to First Nations for search and recovery activities based on compassionate grounds. In addition, ISC will fund proposal-based training for Search and Rescue to support recovery operations.

The most common emergencies affecting First Nations are floods, fires and failure of community infrastructure, for example, winter roads, bridges, water sources, housing due to natural hazards or accident and extreme weather events, for example, tornados, ice storms.

2. Legal and policy authority

• Department of Indigenous Services Act, S.C. 2019, c. 29, s.336, s. 6(2)(h) Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Act, R.S.C. 1985 c. I-6, s. 4
• Indian Act, R.S.C. 1985 c. I-5
• Emergency Management Act S.C., 2007, c.-15
• The Indian Health Policy (1979)
• Public Health Events of National Concern Payments Act, 2020

3. Purpose, program objectives and expected results

The purpose of the Emergency Management Assistance Program (EMAP) is to protect lives and maintain resilient, sustainable on-reserve First Nations communities and infrastructure through emergency management.

The objectives of the ISC's contributions towards emergency management assistance are to:

• protect the health and safety of First Nations members and their infrastructure from natural or accidental hazards
• assist in the remediation of critical infrastructure and community assets impacted by emergency events through timely assessment of emergency management needs and facilitation of an appropriate emergency response from emergency management partners and stakeholders or other areas within the department or Government of Canada
• support communities in their response and recovery efforts to health emergencies, including those public health events of national concern, which can occur independently of emergencies resulting from natural or accidental hazards, such as the spread of communicable diseases, for example, measles, HIV and others, food and water contamination, environmental health hazards, for example, mould, air quality, and others, suicide clusters and opioid crises
• support communities on a compassionate basis through continuation of search and recovery activities associated with lost persons

According to Indigenous Services Canada's 2019 to 2020 Departmental Results Framework, EMAP supports the Departmental Result that Indigenous people have reliable and sustainable infrastructure as part of the Core Responsibility Governance and Community Development Services.

The expected ultimate outcome of EMAP is that resilient First Nations communities are able to respond to and recover from emergency events. ISC will monitor the achievement of results through the ongoing monitoring and assessment of its EMAP Performance Information Profile (PIP). EMAP gathers and reports on data every year, including the following indicator the percentage of long-term evacuees who have returned home or have a scheduled date within 2 years after their evacuation for which the actual results will be reported into the Departmental Results Report.

Expenditures for health emergencies and the health aspects of emergencies caused by natural or accidental hazards, support the core responsibility, health and social services and contributes to the following departmental result, Indigenous people receive social services that respond to community needs. Monitoring and assessment of results for health emergencies and the health aspects of emergencies caused by natural or accidental hazards will take place through the Communicable Disease Control and Management Program's Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and the following key performance indicator will be reported annually to ISC's Head of Performance Measurement, the percentage of First Nations communities that have an all-hazards emergency plan with a health component.

4. Eligibility

Eligible recipients are the following:

• First Nation communities, bands, districts, tribal councils and associations, First Nations organizations and private firms contracted to administer funds jointly with or on behalf of the First Nations co-managers or third-party managers
• Provincial and territorial governments, their agencies and Crown corporations
• Local authorities such as municipalities, townships or boards and committees
• Non-governmental organizations such as the Canadian Red Cross or academic organizations
• In addition, in the case of health emergency funding, eligible recipients may also include hospitals, treatment centres, health authorities and health agencies

5. Type and nature of eligible expenditures

Under such exceptional circumstances, at the discretion of the Minister, reasonable pandemic-related expenditures may be eligible including, but are not limited to:

• payments for Elders, including honoraria for community services for the public health emergency
• direct financial and material support for vulnerable community members, including support for the procurement of food, provisions and other necessities of life
• measures to address food insecurity, including the procurement, transport and distribution of foodstuffs, of prepaid cards and cash disbursements and provisions to enable community members to participate in local harvest activities
• educational and other support for children, including goods and services to enable electronic learning and other means to facilitate growth and development for children
• mental health and emergency health response services, which include support for counselling services, social and material supports to implement recommended social distancing practices, the procurement of personal protective equipment for those providing essential community services and high-risk individuals and all other necessities to emergency health response not otherwise covered by pandemic related initiatives

To ensure consistency in the processing of claims and reimbursement to First Nations impacted by emergency events or disasters, eligibility of emergency management costs will be in accordance with their respective provincial or territorial disaster financial assistance programs or initiatives. These same arrangements will inform eligibility of localized emergency events on reserve to determine reimbursement of costs incurred by an on-reserve First Nation taking into account the department's available financial resources.

Eligible costs to an eligible recipient are net costs after any recoveries from insurance payouts, recoveries through legal actions and financial assistance received from other sources, including any other federal programs. Contributions from recognized non-governmental organizations or those resulting from a special disaster-related fundraising drive can be used to support expenditures ineligible under EMAP. If such contributions are used to support EMAP-eligible expenditures, they will be subtracted from a recipient's total costs before eligible costs are determined.

Expenditures are listed in accordance with the 4 basic pillars of effective emergency management:

Emergency preparedness: Eligible expenditures include: emergency management staff salaries and benefits, training for volunteers and staff and professional development for staff, program research, modification or adaptation, design, printing and distribution of public information materials, data collection and systems, data analysis and reporting, program audit and evaluation. Low value equipment such as tsunami early-warning systems, alarms, sirens, detectors and emergency communications devices may be funded through proposal-based funding.

Emergency response: Eligible expenditures for this activity include the labour, management and equipment costs incurred by the operating authority to respond effectively to the emergency and properly control and mitigate damages and protect people. This could include rental of special equipment, set-up costs for 1-time preventative measures, aircraft rentals, fuel costs of response vehicles, transportation, care and feeding and accommodation of human resources, communications, specialist contractors and consultants. Maintenance repairs and medical equipment are not eligible. Low-value and capital equipment may only be purchased in circumstances when it is the only option available or it has been determined that it is a more cost-effective way to address emergency response activities.

Capital equipment may also be purchased by provinces and territories to increase their capacity to support First Nations communities during emergencies and for comparability of service delivery. Such equipment purchase will have to be supported with a business case explaining why this is the most cost-effective or efficient response mechanism before purchasing can be authorized by ISC officials, including headquarters' concurrence and EMAP funding granted. As a general rule, existing provincial or territorial rates should be followed for costs related to evacuations. In addition, Treasury Board of Canada guidelines should not be exceeded for things such as the travel directive for accommodations, meals and incidental rates, applied to evacuees or emergency management personnel. If and when these costs are exceeded, justification will be required to provide a rational that supports and documents these instances.

Eligible response expenditures for health emergencies or the health aspects of emergencies caused by natural or accidental hazards include health-related costs associated with evacuations and communicable disease outbreaks, for example, overtime, costs of travel or charters and surge capacity support of necessary health and medical professionals retained by the community, etc., costs associated with response to the environmental public health aspects of emergencies or disasters, including but not limited to inspections, assessments, food safety and solid waste disposal, costs for technological supports depending on the emergency, as well as costs for the implementation of testing and contact tracing efforts, on the land activities, counselling services and mental wellness supports for the community and the implementation of strategies to deal with the health aspects of emergencies caused by natural or accidental hazards.

Recovery: Eligible repair and restoration costs include the actual costs required for repairing or restoring an item or facility to its immediate pre-disaster condition as the maximum amount eligible. In the case of permanent repairs or replacement to better than pre-disaster condition, the amount eligible may be no greater than the amount required for restoration, repair or replacement to the immediate pre-disaster condition as estimated by a technical authority acceptable to the department in addition to any eligible mitigation measures as described below. For example, in a situation where a single-lane bridge is destroyed, its replacement cost can be established and used against the cost of replacing it with a 2-lane bridge. Additional repair or replacement costs required to meet current federal and provincial construction codes and occupancy standards, access and fire and occupational safety are eligible.

Eligible recovery expenditures for health emergencies or the health aspects of emergencies caused by natural or accidental hazards include capacity to support a holistic response in order to address health and social issues, for example, additional air or water quality testing, healing supports, development or enhancement of an all-hazard plan to promote community resilience, etc.

Recovery mitigation measures: Mitigation enhancements undertaken within specific repair or reconstruction projects of damaged infrastructure to reduce vulnerability to future emergencies will be considered for eligibility by ISC. The First Nation will advise ISC, through their regional office of any proposed mitigation enhancement project at the earliest opportunity to seek approval on eligibility for mitigation cost recovery. Details such as nature and scope of work, timings, and estimates should be recorded for audit verification. New construction and public awareness initiatives are not eligible. Enhancements that are mainly designed to increase operational capacity, such as traffic volume, productive output, functionality, floor space, or life-cycle duration are also not eligible. Appropriate documentation to demonstrate that mitigation enhancements projects were accomplished must be available for federal audit before any payment is provided for such projects.

Mitigation: Eligible expenditures for these non-structural activities include site investigation and any required clean-up activities, planning and management fees, architectural and engineering services, professional fees for legal, excluding litigation and accounting services, site preparation and security, costs of materials and supplies, transportation, inspections, permits, land use permits and environmental studies, operating licenses, transportation and accommodations for work crews in remote locations.

Low-value equipment may only be purchased in circumstances when it is the only option available or it has been determined that is a more cost-effective way to address these non-structural activities. Capital equipment purchase and permanent protective infrastructure that did not exist before an emergency event partially or completely destroyed it are not eligible. An example of this type of structure would be a temporary dike built for an emergency event that could be made permanent during the recovery phase.

Wildfire Management Services, formerly referred to as Forest Fire Suppression: In addition to the above, ISC enters into agreements with provinces and territories, their Crown corporations or Indigenous organizations for wildfire management services required to safeguard and protect First Nations from wildfires. Wildfires may include grassfires, bush fires, parkland fires and forest fires which threaten people, infrastructure, the environment and the economy. Wildfire behaviour and management is different than structural fire protection. Wildfire management services include prevention, education and preparedness activities and operations. Prevention, education and preparedness activities may include FireSmart programs or similar programs, hazard reduction and prescribed fire programs, communications, information and education programs, training and investigations.

Wildfire operations includes detection, facilities such as fire bases, air tankers, warehouses, lookouts, weather stations and lightning locations, wildland firefighting resources, aircraft and other support resources including heavy equipment, camps, medical services, security services and support personnel and specialists.

Wages, training, accommodations and related prevention, education and preparedness activities and operations, such as pre-suppression and suppression, costs of the wildland firefighting as well as support ground and air crew, costs of contract and casual labour hired for wildfire pre-suppression and suppression and support functions, wildfire suppression and support flying costs, rental, purchase and related costs of emergency equipment, charges for guaranteed aircraft availability agreements and related costs, training, travel, and related costs of wildfire crews, lookout persons and surface patrol crews, costs of construction, maintaining and supplying fire centres, air tanker bases, wildfire attack bases and wildfire lookouts.

6. Total Canadian government funding and stacking limits

The stacking limit maximum level of funding to a recipient from all sources, including federal, provincial, territorial and municipal for any 1 activity, initiative or project cannot exceed 100% of eligible costs. Any additional government funding received over and above the 100% of eligible costs approved by the department will serve to reduce ISC's contribution. However, funding received from other sources, private or public, specifically to address costs not eligible under the EMAP will not be considered as stacking of funding from a recipient under these program terms and conditions.

7. Method for determining the amount of funding

The method for determining the amount of EMAP funding is described within these terms and conditions under the heading of Application and Assessment Criteria. Furthermore, an EMAP appendix provides definitions for types of estimate A, B, C, D to establish what level of certainty there is about a funding request for a specific project or emergency event.

Invoices for health emergencies are submitted by communities to Regional Health Emergency Management Coordinators and reviewed by Health Emergency Management staff to determine eligibility as described in section 5.

8. Maximum amounts payable

The maximum payment to any 1 recipient is $50 million in 1 fiscal year.

The maximum payment to any 1 provincial or territorial governmental recipient is $100 million in 1 fiscal year to reflect the leading role of provincial and territorial governments in emergency management within their respective jurisdictions. In addition, emergency management organizations which have a national mandate and may operate across multiple provincial and territorial jurisdictions in Canada will also have a maximum amount payable of $100 million in 1 fiscal year.

The maximum payment payable to the Little Red River Cree Nation is, exceptionally, being increased to $332.5 million for 2024 to 2025 in order to address response and recovery costs due to the 2023 unprecedented wildfires event in Alberta.

9. Basis on which payments will be made

Payments will be made based on actual invoices. Generally, expenditures must immediately follow an emergency event and exceed the capacity or authority of a First Nation, province and territory, third party provider to address it. However, in circumstances where it has been determined to be a more cost effective way to address emergency response activities, for example, pandemic, pending imminent threat from a confirmed hazard or identified high risk area due to climatic or other pressures, advance payments can be made to address the cash flow requirements of a recipient.

10. Application requirements and assessment criteria

Due to the unpredictable and urgent nature of actions necessary in anticipation or response to a global pandemic, the usual application process may be modified or streamlined to address urgent need. The Minister may allocate funding amounts using a formula-based approach, such as 1 based on population, remoteness and community well-being. Regardless of the methodology for distributing the funds, recipients will report on the funds as they normally would for contribution funding under EMAP

In the exceptional circumstances created by an emergency event or disaster including a health emergency or the health aspects of emergencies caused by natural or accidental hazards, ISC assessment and authorization processes may be modified to address actual or imminent threats requiring immediate actions. Under these circumstances, pre-agreement authorization, that is to say an agreement to fund an activity before a funding agreement is in place, may be granted to ensure that there are no undue delays that could cause unnecessary and preventable harm to people or infrastructure.

To keep the use of pre-agreement authorizations to a minimum and ensure that they are only used in exceptional cases requiring urgent actions, these authorizations will not be required when the emergency events are of a cyclical or seasonal nature, since pre-emptive actions, including any required funding agreements to enable emergency management activities, will be developed and implemented during the preparedness and planning phase.

Before entering into a funding arrangement, ISC shall confirm its authorities to enter into an agreement with the recipient and fund the proposed activities.

The Treasury Board Policy on Transfer Payments requires that all federal departments apply a more recipient-specific, risk-based approach when managing transfer payments. It is part of federal initiatives to strengthen accountability and improve results for Canadians. As part of its response to this policy, ISC has developed the general assessment (GA), a tool that supports the management of funding agreements designed to provide a more recipient-focused, risk-based approach to transfer payment management. A GA workbook is used to assess the following risk factors:

• governance
• planning
• financial management
• program management
• other considerations

Information about recipients is compared to a series of benchmarks that describe different risk levels and the recipient is assigned a risk level according to the following categories low, medium or high.

Depending on the results of this GA, ISC may also adjust its reporting requirements for a recipient. This would allow the department to work more closely with the recipient with higher risk profiles. For example, a recipient with a lower risk profile may be required to submit fewer reports than a recipient with a higher risk profile. The results of the GA will potentially affect the duration of funding agreements, the frequency and type of departmental monitoring activities and related reporting requirements, the flexibility of the funding arrangement and a recipient's eligibility for certain funding approaches.

In many cases, emergency management assistance would be 1 of several public services to be funded by ISC for a particular recipient and there would also be an expectation of an on-going relationship between ISC and the recipient and a current, updated and valid GA. Therefore, the recipient shall be required to provide any required information to complete the annual review of its GA unless their last assessment had a low-risk rating. In other words, the recipient is meeting agreement requirements and there is no reason to believe the risk rating has changed, then the review can be conducted every second year. For project recipients, the GA will be performed prior to entering into a funding agreement.

Recipients shall comply with the Conflict of Interest and Post-Employment Code for the Public Service and the Conflict of Interest and Post-Employment Code for Public Office Holders in addition to the Values and Ethics Code for the Public Sector and the ISC Values and Ethics Code. Where an applicant employs or has a major shareholder who is either a current or former in the last 12 months public office holder or public servant in the federal government, compliance with the code or codes shall be demonstrated.

Emergency preparedness activities: Eligible recipients for this component of EMAP will be required to provide the following information in order to be eligible to enter into a funding arrangement with ISC:

• detailed description and costing of the proposed preparedness initiative
• payment schedule including basis and timing of payments
• in the case of third party delivery, a description of the arrangement which indicates their respective roles, responsibilities and accountabilities
• provision for ISC to receive financial and program performance reports from the recipient no less frequently than once a year or more often at the discretion of the funding authority based on the GA rating
• provisions for appropriate program compliance review or test
• provision for ISC auditors to have access to relevant documents, on the premises of the recipient or their third party delivery agent consistent with the funding agreement terms and conditions

Emergency Response: due to the unpredictable and urgent nature of emergency response to emergencies, disasters or accidents, the usual formal application process may be waived. However, when a First Nation declares an emergency, a common understanding must be reached between the First Nation, the province or territory and ISC to trigger a shared response as each have a specific role to play. This must be communicated to ISC as soon as is practical. For instance, in support of a shared response, the decision to evacuate a First Nation must be based on a consensus of opinion between the First Nation chief and council, ISC and the corresponding provincial Emergency Management Office in the absence of a present or imminent threat requiring prompt and immediate actions to protect the health, safety or welfare of people. Not obtaining this consensus of opinion beforehand may make the evacuation costs ineligible for reimbursement from ISC.

Eligibility for financial assistance for emergencies including preparedness, mitigation, response, recovery, forest fire suppression and search and recovery will be assessed upon the signing of funding agreements with provincial or territorial governments, corporations, local authorities, First Nations or other emergency organizations. Eligible recipients will enter into discussions with ISC officials to establish the process for managing the emergency response activities and each party's respective roles and responsibilities. Where appropriate, funding arrangements will be put in place to ensure effective control over financial resources and to establish the financial accountability requirements respecting records, documents, reports, financial statements and, where appropriate, audit as per the Treasury Board Policy on Transfer Payments.

Mitigation: Recipients will be required to comply with the requirements of the department's capital project planning directive and guideline for infrastructure remediation. This includes the need for site assessment, feasibility study including legal, health or safety considerations, project risk assessment and management plan, professional engineering and project management skills, an approved project plan with provisions for contingencies, compliance with all related acts and regulations respecting the building code, health and safety, licenses and permits, proper insurance, public tendering process, bid bonding of the winning general contractor, a contract specifying the respective roles, responsibilities and deliverables of each party in accordance with the time frames established in the construction work plan, penalties for non-completion on a timely basis, payments tied to key deliverables and where both parties cannot agree, an alternative dispute resolution process. For structural mitigation activities, for example, dam or dike building, the department's capital authority will be used and recipients will have to comply with all its terms and conditions. The present authority only allows funding of non-structural mitigation activities and related costs such as professional engineering plans or reports.

11. Due diligence and reporting

ISC has procedures and resources for ensuring due diligence in approving these payments, verifying eligibility and entitlement and for managing and administering the program. See EMAP annex for more details.

As part of the monitoring efforts, a performance measurement strategy consistent with the requirements of the Treasury Board Policy on Transfer Payments will provide baselines and benchmarks from which the EMAP's effectiveness in achieving its set purpose, objectives and outcomes can be evaluated.

12. Official languages

The department will ensure that any member of the public can communicate with and obtain available services from the department, in relation to this program, in accordance with part IV of the Official Languages Act. In addition, the department will ensure that the design and the delivery of programs respect the obligations of the Government of Canada as set out in part VII of the Official Languages Act.

13. Repayable contributions

Provisions for repayable contributions do not apply. Any contributions made to private firms under these programs are not intended to generate profits or increase the value of a business.

14. Redistribution of contributions

Where a recipient delegates authority or further distributes contribution funding to an agency or a third party, such as an authority, board, committee or other entity authorized to act on behalf of the recipient, the recipient shall remain liable to the department for the performance of its obligations under the funding agreement. Neither the objectives of the programs and services nor the expectations of transparent, fair and equitable services shall be compromised by any delegation or redistribution of contribution funding.

Recipients have full independence in the selection of such third parties and will not be acting as an agent of the Government of Canada in making distributions.

15. Other terms and conditions

None

Annex for EMAP funding request, information required

Detailed breakdown of information in table below.

In addition to the above information, for each recipient, please provide

Finally, for each recipient requesting funding, please provide the source of the cost estimate and the class of estimate as per definitions below

Definitions of class of estimate:

Class A cost estimate: estimate based upon a complete description of the equipment or facility sought, such as would exist when the concept design, working drawings and specifications, and other significant conditions of production or construction are available. It can be used to evaluate tenders or as a basis of cost control during construction.

Class B cost estimate: estimate based upon data of quality equivalent to that available following the definition of the major systems and sub-systems of the equipment or facility, including an outline of specifications and preliminary drawings and models. It should provide for establishment of a realistic budget and schedule sufficiently accurate to permit control of a project within allocated funds.

Class C cost estimate: estimate based upon proposals requested from a number of contractors for the design, production or construction of the equipment or facility, or upon system concept designs and analyses of their costs and schedules conducted by experienced personnel. It should be sufficient for making the correct investment decision.

Class D cost estimate: estimate based upon a comprehensive statement of requirements, in mission terms and an outline of a solution. It is strictly an indication in round terms of the total project cost or completion date.