Updates coming to Public Disaster Assistance Program

Changes are coming to the Public Disaster Assistance Program (PDAP), the provincial government and Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency announced on Thursday.

The regulatory changes include increasing the maximum assistance for individuals from $240,000 to $500,000, increasing the maximum assistance for small businesses from $500,000 to $3 million. Compensation is now based on standard replacement value and not depreciated value.

A new municipal incentive, allowing local authorities to lower their deductible by meeting their emergency management and preparedness criteria was also introduced.

“The recovery process after an incident can be challenging and long,” Community Safety Minister and Minister Responsible for the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency Michael Weger said in a press release. “The changes announced today will lessen some of that burden and improve resiliency for communities recovering from disasters.” 

The PDAP is an emergency management recovery program that allows residents, small businesses, agricultural operations, First Nations, non-profits and communities to recover from natural disasters. The program reimburses the cost of uninsurable essential losses, repairs and temporary relocation.

The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) welcomed the news. SARM President Bill Huber said members RMs have made it very clear this year’s flooding has caused “significant hardship” by damaging municipal infrastructure and increasing financial pressure.

Huber said the changes will offer better support to RMs impacted by natural disasters.

“These improvements are an important step toward making sure RMs and their residents can count on more responsive, predictable assistance when they need it most,” Huber said in a press release. “SARM has been hearing from councils across the province about the challenges they are facing after this year’s flooding, and we appreciate the Province’s efforts to improve the program in ways that will better support rural Saskatchewan.

“Our members have made it clear that repeated flooding is taking a toll on local infrastructure and budgets,” Huber added. “Supporting proactive measures will help reduce future disaster impacts and strengthen our rural municipalities.”

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