The Memorial Grant Program for First Responders recognizes the service and sacrifice of responders in keeping Canadians safe. Through the program, families of first responders who die as a result of their duties can receive a one-time lump sum, tax-free direct maximum payment of $300,000.
 
Eligible Recipients
 An eligible recipient is defined as an individual who is able to demonstrate and provide evidence of a relationship to a deceased first responder as described below. Eligible beneficiaries are to be determined and paid in accordance with the following descending order of priority:

• the spouse or common-law partner; or
• if there is no surviving spouse or common-law partner, to a surviving child or children divided in equal amounts; or
• if there is no surviving child, to a surviving parent or parents divided in equal amounts, or
• if there is no surviving parent, to a surviving sibling or siblings divided in equal amounts; or
• if there is no surviving sibling, to the deceased's estate.

Incident Eligibility
For the purposes of the Memorial Grant Program for First Responders, death must be attributable to, and resulting from, the performance of duties in the following circumstances:

• death resulting from a fatal injury (e.g., gunshot wound, stabbing, car accident, etc.) while actively engaged in the duties of a first responder in Canada.
• death resulting from an occupational illness primarily resulting from employment as a first responder (e.g., lung cancer, leukemia, non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, heart injury or other illness). Following established provincial and territorial practices; a presumptive list of occupational illnesses and related years of service will be established and maintained by Public Safety Canada based on current scientific evidence; or
• death resulting from or reasonably attributable to psychological impairment, specifically suicide, based on a pre-existing diagnosis or multiple separate affidavits.

The date of death must be on or after April 1, 2018.
 
For more information download the brochures found below, or visit the Memorial Grant Program for First Responders website at https://memorialgrant.ca/