Canadian Government Ex Gratia Payments by Ministry, Fiscal Year Details

Ex gratia payments of $100 or more are itemized by ministry in this annual financial disclosure from the Public Accounts of Canada. Payments under $100 are aggregated as a single total per department, with the count of such payments. Public Services and Procurement Canada publishes this dataset, which is updated for each fiscal year, with the last update recorded in April 2026.

Use Cases

• Analyze trends in discretionary government spending based on annual fiscal year reporting.
• Identify ministries with high volumes of ex gratia payments based on the department-level aggregation.
• Study the application of benevolence payments in the public interest, as defined in the description.
• Cross-reference official financial records using the provided source links to the Receiver General and Library and Archives.

Strengths

• Discloses payments of $100 or more individually, providing transaction-level detail.
• Aggregates payments under $100 with a total amount and count, offering summary data.
• Published annually with a structured process tied to the government's Public Accounts.
• Includes a mechanism for recipient name non-disclosure where warranted, addressing privacy.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The dataset is explicitly noted as not the official record of information.

Provenance

Source

Public Services and Procurement Canada, based on Volume 3 of the Public Accounts of Canada.

Collection Method

Compiled from government-wide financial information published at the end of each fiscal year.

Time Range

Annual fiscal year coverage; specific historical range is not stated.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-09 16:35:29.874042; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Canada (federal government).