As their community still works to rebuild, some business owners in fire-razed Lytton are now facing another hurdle — the repayment of government loans granted during the pandemic.
Meghan Fandrich is one of them. Her shop, the Klowa Art Café, was the place her daughter took her first steps, a place that “changed her whole life.” She now describes it as a “nice, burned up piece of property.”
“There was this event, these 15 minutes of fire that changed my entire life,” she told Global News.
“We had this huge trauma and then we’re living on the edge of a burned up town, so the struggle never stopped.”
On June 30, 2021, some 300 people in the southern B.C. village fled as an unrelenting fire razed houses, the health centre, the post office, the grocery store, and more. Two people died and more were injured.
It was the second disaster the community faced — like all others in Canada, it was also grappling with the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before the blaze, Fandrich had borrowed $60,000 from Ottawa in the form of Canadian Emergency Business Account (CEBA). Eighty per cent of the repayable loan went to paying her staff, she said.
“I had it all planned out that I could repay it perfectly and in plenty of time,” she explained.
Then, the single mother “lost everything.” Fandrich had no savings, and while her insurance policy would have covered the cost of rebuilding the shop after the disaster, that cost has now doubled.
Fandrich said she can’t afford to rebuild the Klowa Art Café in today’s market while her insurance policy is static, meaning she the federal $7.2-million Lytton Business Restart Program is of no use to her.
“Forgiving a $40,000 to $60,000 loan means a lot more to me than hypothetically, putting solar panels on a business that I can’t afford to rebuild,” she said.
Ottawa has already extended the CEBA repayment deadline by a year, from Dec. 31, 2022 to Dec. 31, 2023.
It will also forgive up to $20,000 with no interest charged on a loan that is fully repaid by the end of the year. Afterward, interest of five per cent per annum takes effect, with the principal due on Dec. 31, 2025.
In an emailed statement, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s press secretary pointed to the $6-million Lytton Homeowner Resilient Rebuild Program and Lytton Business Restart Program as demonstrations of support for the community, and to the CEBA deadline extension.
“This is in addition to the $1 billion that we have provided to the province of British Columbia through Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements to help with the costs of response and recovery due to climate related disasters,” wrote Katherine Cuplinkskas.
She did not address the possibility of CEBA forgiveness under Lytton’s extraordinary circumstances.
Fandrich’s father, Bernie Fandrich, said he’s still not aware of any Lytton businesses that have cash in hand from any federal measure designed to support them. The Lytton and District Chamber of Commerce vice-president said nine or 10 local businesses have CEBA loans as well, and he’s been advocating for forgiveness.
Meanwhile, Bernie said the rebuilding of homes and other infrastructure continues at a glacial pace.
“I feel very neglected, very insulted too, plus the emotional content when you lose everything you have worked for for your entire life,” he told Global News.
“I’m not sure how long we can wait for something to happen.”
British Columbia Conservative MP and small business critic Brad Vis said the CEBA loans are a “hump” standing in the way of rebuilding the village and its key businesses.
“Why won’t the government just listen to the businesses and do what they’re asking for, and they’re asking for it in good faith?” he asked.
“In the spring session of Parliament I brought forward three petitions on behalf of Lytton residents and business owners, asking for a special relief solely for the businesses that were destroyed by the Lytton fire, and the government rejected it three times.”
Vis isn’t the only one who’s made an attempt. In April, Cariboo-Prince George Conservative MP Todd Doherty also brought forward a petition seeking CEBA forgiveness for Lytton business owners.
On June 1, Freeland issued her response, stating in part: “For those that cannot repay by the deadline, the CRA will work with each business to determine its ability to repay, emphasizing fairness, empathy, and putting people first.”
On Thursday, NDP critic for small business and tourism, Richard Cannings, also called on Ottawa to at least, extend the CEBA repayment deadline beyond the end of the year.
When it comes to Lytton, Vis said Ottawa is “tripping over their own red tape, and it’s almost like their compassion is completely misplaced.” It continues to use Lytton in public messaging as an example of a climate disaster, for example, without taking some of the steps to support it that Lytton residents are specifically asking for, he said.
Meanwhile, Fandrich continues to live in her now “scattered” community and plans to continue raising her voice to “raise awareness, because we have felt so forgotten.”
“This town needs somewhere to sell their local art. The town needs another coffee shop to hang out in, and a place to get vegan food … I don’t know how it would be expected that we could just pick up and pay this huge loan.”