Tsuts’weye News July 14, 2021

The continuing road to recovery….

Finally… We now have the ability to gather with our friends and family. It is certainly the best news that we have had for over a year! Also businesses can finally reopen without the fear of being closed in a moments notice. British Columbia safely moved into Step 3 of its four-step restart plan on July 1, 2021.

Moving to Step 3 signals the end to the longest provincial state of emergency in BC’s history. BC’s public health emergency will remain in effect during Step 3 to support amended public health orders from the provincial health officer (PHO), with reduced requirements. For more information and to have your questions answered go to BC’s Restart Plan. This plan also includes the new communicable disease plans, with guidelines for these plans released by WorkSafe BC on June 28. These guidelines were developed in consultation with public health and businesses will continue to be supported by WorkSafe BC and the PHO as businesses transition through the restart plan.

And now just when we though everything was OK… We are being challenged again with heat and wildfires! We will get through too, with the realization that we need to understand our climate challenges and how we need to pay attention to our world.

It has been so great to see our businesses reopen and to see visitors enjoying all of the wonderful things that we have in the Shuswap! But we must remember to respect the challenges that our businesses are still having as they reopen. They can’t get enough staff, supplies are still slow to arrive, there are still guidelines to be maintained, and they are concerned about how the smoke and wildfires will affect their business.

Also, the challenges for our female owned businesses are greater than ever before. Women-owned enterprises are statistically more likely to operate within the sectors that were most adversely affected by the pandemic and emergency situations. More than 50% of female entrepreneurs work in the wholesale/retail trade, for example, which suffered greatly decreased demand due to shutdowns.

So be patient, continue to shop local and support our small businesses, and continually tell our businesses that they are doing a great job. Our small businesses are the life line of our communities and we need them to continue to succeed.

Stay safe everyone! We will get through this together!

• Emergency Management BC –  Emergency Management BC (EMBC) is the province’s lead coordinating agency for all emergency management activities, including response, planning, training, testing and exercising. This work is done in collaboration with local governments, First Nations, federal departments, industry, non-government organizations and volunteers.
• Emergency Info BC – Emergency Info BC is active during partial and full-scale provincial emergencies, both on this site and on Twitter via @EmergencyInfoBC. We share official response and recovery sources, as well as verified event information from trusted partners.
• Prepared BC – Prepared BC can assist you to be prepared in the case of a disaster. Disasters happen, and can potentially leave your household on its own for several days. Sounds scary, but it doesn’t have to be. Prepared BC can help you understand and prepare for the hazards in your area.
• The Shuswap Emergency Program  can provide you with local emergency news.
• In the case of wildfires – The BC Wildfire App is available for download now for Apple (iOS) and Android (Google Play) devices. This will keep you up to date on the latest wildfires, evacuation alerts and orders and other information.

• If you have a small business, download the Prepared BC – Guide for small businesses to ensure you and your employees have a plan in place for any interruptions that could happen because of an emergency.
• Tourism businesses operating in high risk areas or hosting guests can download the Prepared BC – Guide for Tourism operators to create a plan for staff and guest safety.

• Speak to your insurance provider to ensure your insurance plan adequately covers any risk and that your account is up to date.
• You may want to consider adding new options, such as business interruption coverage, in case your business operations are affected by wildfire management.
• Ensure you have up to date copies of financial statements, deeds, contracts, and insurance documents in a safe place – investing in a secure cloud storage system is a great solution to ensure they are accessible from anywhere in case of an emergency.
• An up-to-date inventory of business assets with valuations/serial numbers is essential to ensure any damages can be easily identified and submitted with insurance claims.
• Take photos of all of your assets in your business, if you can. It will assist with your insurance claims after an emergency.

• Develop messaging for social media and your website that can be quickly updated if there is a disruption in your business.
• Ensure that there is messaging prepared to contact clients, a plan in place for notifying the public cancelling any meetings/appointments.
• Your messaging should also include that you will provide an update once the emergency has ended and you can return to your business.