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Resources established for businesses impacted by B.C. wildfires

News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
Resources established for businesses impacted by B.C. wildfires
 
CHILLIWACK, B.C., July 2, 2021 ­– The British Columbia Economic Development Association (BCEDA) has launched a webpage to help businesses and individuals access support resources following the devastating fires impacting Lytton and several other areas in British Columbia.

“Business owners are highly resilient, but we want to ensure that they have access to the necessary information to help them move forward,” said Dale Wheeldon, President and CEO of BCEDA.  “Every community, regional district and First Nation are important to B.C. and we do everything we can to support them and their local economies.”

The webpage links to a live, frequently updated document, Resources for Wildfire Impacted Individuals & Businesses which contains information from the Red Cross, Province of BC, FortisBC, BC Hydro, Insurance Bureau of Canada and more. BCEDA also offers a Local Economic Recovery and Restart Toolkit with a collection of resources developed to assist local councils, organizations and individuals involved in community economic recovery following an emergency.

Starting next Tuesday, BCEDA will release a link to a short questionnaire for impacted business owners and managers. The information is confidential and will help distinguish the businesses and community’s short and long-term needs. The survey results will then be shared with the communities, Canadian Red Cross, Province of British Columbia, and others to help them plan as the community moves forward. 

Providing business recovery resources is just one part of BCEDA’s Economic Disaster Recovery Program originally started in B.C. following the devastating mill explosion in Burns Lake in 2012.  It was then used by BCEDA and its counterpart Economic Developers Alberta following the flooding in 2013 and during the BC Wildfires in 2017/2018.

The webpage is available at: https://www.bceda.ca/wildfires.php

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The British Columbia Economic Development Association of (BCEDA) is the leading professional association of economic development practitioners in the Province of BC. The BCEDA currently has over 500 members from communities throughout the Province. The BCEDA provides services that helps member communities grow and expand new and existing businesses, attract new business investments, and work towards strategic infrastructure investment, land use planning, and community enhancement.
 
Media contact:
Dale Wheeldon
President and CEO,
British Columbia Economic Development Association
dwheeldon@bceda.ca
604-819-3809