Quiet Vessel Initiative Program Indigenous Stream – Applicant’s Guide

From: Transport Canada

On this page

1. Program purpose and objective

The objective of the Program is to provides federal contribution funding to Indigenous groups to support projects and activities that address the impacts of underwater vessel noise on the marine environment and vulnerable marine mammals – including the Southern Resident killer whale.

2. Available funding

The QVI will provide funding over a period of up to two fiscal years, and all activities must be completed by March 31, 2026.

  • The Program will reimburse Recipients up to 100% of eligible expenditures incurred towards the project.
  • The maximum contribution per project is $400,000.00.

3. Eligibility assessment criteria

3.1 Eligible recipients

Eligible recipients must be along the Trans Mountain Expansion marine shipping route and include:

  • Indigenous governmentsFootnote 1, tribal councils and other forms of regional government, nationally or regionally representative Indigenous organizations, and/or Indigenous development corporations.
  • Eligibility is restricted to the following groups, in accordance with the federal framework established for the management of the Trans Mountain Expansion Accommodation measures:
    • Musqueam Indian Band
    • Squamish Nation
    • Tsawwassen First Nation*
    • Tsleil-Waututh Nation
    • Cowichan Tribes
    • Halalt First Nation
    • Lake Cowichan First Nation
    • Lyackson First Nation
    • Penelakut Tribe
    • Snaw-naw-as (Nanoose) First Nation
    • Snuneymuxw (Nanaimo) First Nation
    • Stz’uminus (Chemainus) First Nation
    • Esquimalt Nation
    • Malahat Nation
    • Pauquachin First Nation
    • Scianew (Beecher Bay) Indian Band
    • Semiahmoo First Nation
    • Songhees (Lekwungen) Nation
    • Tsartlip First Nation
    • Tsawout First Nation
    • Tseycum First Nation
    • T’Sou-ke First Nation
    • Ditidaht First Nation
    • Ka:’yu:’k’t’h’/Che:k’tles7et’h First Nations (Maa-nulth)*
    • Huu-ay-aht First Nations (Maa-nulth)*
    • Pacheedaht First Nation
    • Toquaht Nation (Maa-nulth)*
    • Uchucklesaht Tribe (Maa-nulth)*
    • Ucluelet First Nation (Maa-nulth)*

*N.B. Modern treaty holder

3.2 Eligible activities

Contributions will be provided to fund the following eligible activities so long as the proposed activity directly contributes to the program objective:

Eligible activities include:

  • Education and awareness related to underwater vessel noise;
  • Capacity building activities to share and develop knowledge, expertise and engagement through a variety of approaches (e.g., symposia, workshops conferences, collaborative science fairs, scholarships).
  • Development, acquisition, analysis, installation/deployment, demonstration and testing of:
    1. Technologies, equipment, instrumentation, designs, processes, data, software and systems; and/or
    2. Related evaluation, monitoring and training activities;
  • Studies and research.

Examples of eligible activities include the following:

  • Indigenous-led/Indigenous-participation in research or testing projects aimed at evaluating quiet vessel technologies and operational practices (e.g. conducting or participating in sea trials).
  • Supporting capacity to monitor the marine environment for underwater noise in traditional territories to assess the effectiveness of operational and technical mitigations, or measure baseline ambient noise and trends.
  • Support the development of territorial noise monitoring and/or management plans.

4. Eligible expenditures

Eligible expenditures include the following, as necessary to execute eligible activities as defined in Section 3.2:

  • staff salaries and benefits;
  • professional fees for contracting services;
  • expenditures for Indigenous participation in project activities, including: room/facility rentals, honoraria, expenditure for Indigenous consultations, training and equipment;
  • Administrative expenditures (including expenditures for general administration, rent, insurance, and office equipment rental) limited to 15% of total eligible expenditures;
  • Incentive payments to vessel operators, shipping companies or shipping agent based on incremental pilotage costs as a direct result of voluntary slowdown;
  • Incremental insurance costs related to project requirements for the testing and/or installation of technologies, software, hardware, sensors and any other equipment deemed necessary for vessel retrofits or new designs/builds;
  • Purchase or lease of technologies, equipment, software, licenses, data and systems;
  • Public outreach, dissemination of information, communications material and other associated costs;
  • Travel expenditures (including the cost of accommodations, vehicle rental and kilometric rates, bus, train, airplanes or taxi fares, allowances for meals and incidentals). Applicants must base their amounts on the rates and allowances of the Travel Directive of the National Joint Council;
  • Rental of meeting rooms and audio/video equipment;
  • Fees related to the participation in and organization of conferences and symposia;
  • Training costs related to new technologies, equipment, software and systems;
  • Capacity building activities for Indigenous communities to facilitate project engagement and to further the development of knowledge and expertise on emerging quiet vessel innovations and approaches;
  • Expenditures related to telecommunications, data analysis, and data validation services (e.g., collection, processing and analysis of hydrophone data);
  • Cost of environmental consultations; and
  • Other expenditures not included in the categories above, as identified in the application for the funding, and approved by the Minister or his/her delegated representative, to achieve the objectives and results of the Program.

The above eligible expenditures may include expenditures associated with in-kind contributions.
In-kind contributions may take the form of:

  • Goods, services or assets consumed by the recipient for which costs are incurred and no cash is exchanged.
  • Donations of goods, services or assets to the recipient, for which no costs are incurred and no cash is exchanged.

Donations are not eligible for reimbursement but may form part of the recipient’s share of the total eligible expenditures for the project/activities.

5. Eligible Project Duration and Approvals

  • Projects may begin to incur costs on the date of approval of the project and must be completed by March 31, 2026.
  • Single-year (12 month) and multi-year projects are eligible.
  • Projects may begin to incur costs upon approval, however, no reimbursements will be provided until a funding agreement is signed.

6. Merit Selection Criteria

Transport Canada officials will assess project proposals to determine if they meet the eligibility assessment criteria (see Section 3 for additional details). If eligible, the proposed projects will then be assessed against the merit selection criteria described below.

Applicants must provide the following information (Refer to Section 10 on how to apply):

Relevance of the project

How closely the proposed project corresponds to the QVI objective (See Section 1), more specifically how the project:

  • Enables Indigenous groups to identify and/or implement quiet vessel solutions on their vessels;
  • Monitors underwater noise to assess the effectiveness of operational and technical mitigations aimed at addressing underwater noise;
  • Increases the Indigenous group’s internal science-capacity related to understanding underwater vessel noise and its impacts on the marine environment.

Applicant's relevant experience and capacity

How well the applicant is able, in terms of resources, personnel and expertise, to complete the proposed project. More specifically, Transport Canada officials will consider the applicant's:

  • experience and/or expertise
  • institutional, management/organizational structures, financial controls and other support required to successfully deliver the proposed project

Quality of the project plan

The degree to which the planned activities, schedule, budget, targeted results, roles and responsibilities are clear, realistic and consistent with the proposed project’s objectives. The proposed project will be assessed against the following criteria:

  • clearly stated goals, objectives and outcomes;
  • a realizable project plan, concrete deliverables, budget and timelines;
  • an experienced and qualified project manager with roles and responsibilities clearly established;
  • a complete risk management plan;
  • a realistic performance measurement strategy; and
  • an efficient use of resources and plans for producing outputs in an affordable manner.

7. Notification

The applicant will be informed if they have been selected for funding. Transport Canada reserves the right to accept or reject any project proposal.

8. Service Standards

In an effort to continually improve service and conduct a transparent process, the following service standards have been established:

  • Our goal is to provide applicants with written acknowledgement of receipt of their application and/or project proposal within 10 business days of the application deadline date
  • Our goal is to issue payments within 20 business days following the notification to the recipient that the requirements outlined in the funding agreement have been fulfilled

Note: If the program cannot meet the above standards, we will advise recipients in a timely manner.

9. Funding Agreements

A funding agreement signed by both the recipient and Transport Canada is required to receive funding. The following sections highlight some of the key areas of this legal document.

9.1 Risk-based funding agreements

A risk assessment of all approved projects will be conducted prior to signing a funding agreement. This ensures that funding agreement requirements correspond to the project’s risk levels, and the recipient's capacity to deliver results. The project risk assessment will determine:

  • How often the recipient must report project progress;
  • Financial documentation the recipient must submit with payment claims;
  • How often site visits will be made with and/or contact the recipient; and
  • Audit requirements.

The risk assessment will be based on, but not limited to, the information provided in the applicant’s project proposal.

9.2 Project scope and agreement

The applicant's project proposal will form the foundation of the project scope, mandatory legal documentation, clauses, terms and conditions, and payment structure that are included in the funding agreement. Once the funding agreement is signed, no change to the scope of the project (including budget, structure, timelines, etc.) is possible without prior written agreement between the recipient and Transport Canada.

9.3 Reporting requirements

Reporting requirements will be established in the funding agreement and may include providing financial claims, list of invoices, progress reports, annual reports and a final report, among other elements.

9.4 Progress reports

Recipients must submit progress reports quarterly or semi-annually (or annually for multi-year agreements), as identified in the funding agreement. Progress reports will identify the progress achieved during the reporting period and accompany financial claims.

9.5 Annual reports

For multi-year projects, the recipient will be required to produce an annual report. This report will include, but may not be limited to, the following:

  • A detailed description of the project's progress and major achievements during the year, and an update on how the project is moving forward and how it relates to initial objectives and final results;
  • Updated data on performance indicators indicated in funding agreement compared to the start of the project;
    • The recipient will ensure that appropriate data collection processes are in place to enable the capture and reporting of performance indicators used to measure the achievement of the project's outcomes.
  • Annual reporting on the recipient’s eligible expenditures incurred and based on the breakdown of the eligible expenditures claimed, in accordance with the funding agreement budget;
  • Highlights of project communications activities during the reporting period, if applicable; and
  • Issues, areas of concern or risk factors that may affect completion, the schedule or the budget of the project as per original plans, and also proposed mitigation strategies to correct any issues.

9.6 Final reports

When the project is complete, recipients will be required to submit a final report. The final report should be the overall roll-up of the information required in the annual reports and verification of all project activities, costs and outcomes. Under the funding agreement, we must receive the final report before we will pay the final expense claim.

Along with the information required in the final report, recipients may also be asked to include an overall assessment and analysis of the objectives met, outcomes achieved and lessons learned.

9.7 Financial claims

Recipients can only submit claims for reimbursement of expenditures incurred that are identified in the funding agreement. Recipients will be provided templates that reflect the eligible expenses as outlined in the funding agreement. Recipients will also be required to submit a list of invoices with each claim.

9.8 Official languages

All recipients must respect the Official Languages Act when delivering a project funded under QVI. Linguistic requirements may apply to projects depending on their scope (i.e., national, regional or local), or on the specificity of the regions and targeted audiences of projects. Transport Canada officials will work with successful recipients to determine how this applies to their projects.

10. How to Apply

The following sections detail the documents required to submit a proposal.
The application package must include the following information:

  1. Applicant information:
    1. legal name of the organization
    2. name and position of the primary contact for applicant organization
    3. mailing address for all correspondence
    4. contact information such as office phone, email/internet address, etc.
  2. Organizational profile:
    1. type of organization
    2. organizational structure and governance
    3. organizational activities
  3. Project management personnel
    1. each project must have a designated project manager; please include their contact information (if different from applicant organization), including their phone number(s), email address, and mailing address
  4. Declarations:
    1. conflict of interest questionnaire
    2. declaration by applicant organization attesting to the accuracy of the project proposal and the commitment of the organization to carry out the project signed by an authorized agent
  5. Project description:
    1. project objectives and goals
    2. location of project delivery
    3. proposed start and completion dates
    4. major activities for the project
    5. project work plan
  6. Project Budget

Important note: The project proposal template and budget template are attached to the invitational email. You must use these templates to prepare your project proposal.

11. Submitting an Application

Application deadline

Project proposals must be received by April 25, 2024.

Note: All project proposals must be signed, complete and accurate using the templates provided. All applicants must provide legal documentation confirming their organization is a legal entity (for example, using letters of patents, certificates of incorporation or other such legal documents). Missing or incomplete information will slow the processing of the application and may result in its rejection.

Project proposals must be in MS Word, MS Excel or PDF format and be submitted by email. Project proposals and inquiries concerning the application process must be sent to: QuietVesselInitiative-InitiativeDeNaviresSilencieux@tc.gc.ca.

Transport Canada will confirm receipt of project proposals.

Report a problem with this page

Date modified: