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The British Columbia Economic Development Association (BCEDA) is working to help communities and businesses get back on their feet after the wildfires that have impacted so many. We have initiated our Economic Disaster Recovery Program (EDRP) which has been used in Burns Lake, Southern Alberta floods and most recently following the Fort McMurray fire of 2016.
We are asking owners and managers of businesses from the impacted areas to call our Business Recovery Hotline. The hotline will begin operation on July 24, Monday through Friday during the hours of 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., for the first two weeks after evacuees begin to return back to their communities. This may be extended if the need is there. The number for the hotline is 1-877-4BC-EDRP (1-877-422-3377). We encourage you to share the attached information with your businesses.
Business owners will be asked questions over the hotline that will help distinguish the businesses and community’s short and long-term needs. The information will then be shared with the communities, the Canadian Red Cross, Community Futures British Columbia, the Province of British Columbia, Chambers of Commerce and others to help them plan as the community moves forward. We encourage every business regardless of type to call. This includes businesses in incorporated, unincorporated and First Nation communities.
The calls will be administered with the generous support of energy utility FortisBC’s contact centres in Prince George and Burnaby, using existing resources.
BCEDA is pleased to support local economies in all BC communities. Economic developers play a critical leadership role in a community’s recovery process. BCEDA’s Economic Disaster Recovery Program (EDRP) is being used as a valuable template for the overall business and economic disaster recovery strategy.
The hotline is the second phase of a three phased approach we are currently implementing through the EDRP program. The third phase will be to visit impacted communities with economic opportunity recovery teams (EORT). This team will be made up of economic development and tourism professionals from throughout North America that have generously volunteered time. The phase is dependent on the necessary resources being available for implementation. BCEDA is actively pursuing these additional resources and will keep communities informed of the progress.
More details can be found in the attached press release and background documents. We also hope you will circulate the attached marketing piece to impacted business. If you are looking for additional information please check http://bceda.ca/bcwildfires
We are thinking of everyone impacted and we wish everyone the best as they return to their community.
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