The Village of Valemount is warning up to 70 per cent of its businesses won’t be able to recover from the indirect impacts of the Jasper wildfire without government support.
The Village is asking for $1.5 million to help the community recover after last summer's wildfire closed highways across the region and stopped the essential flow of visitors to Valemount.
“I am extremely hopeful that our premier will make a decision to forward funds to a third party to administer to businesses that were impacted by wildfires and then for him to do his job as provincial leader and have discussions with Alberta and Ottawa to recoup some of those costs,” said Mayor Owen Torgerson. “In terms of provincial and federal budgets, $1.5 million is a rounding error.”
Even before Valemount’s mill closed in 2009, the village was seeing a downturn in the forestry sector. Tourism soon became the primary industry for the community, with most of its businesses either partially or entirely reliant on tourist activity for income generation.
B.C.’s most northern resort municipality benefits from its proximity to Jasper National Park in Alberta. It is also a 25-minute drive to Mount Robson, the highest point in the Canadian Rockies.
However, Valemount’s economy has suffered serious damage in recent years following repeated disasters.
“COVID was not kind to anybody, particularly the service sector, likely the hardest hit industry out there, and then [with] wildfires and highway closures, we’re getting to the straw that may break the camel’s back,” Torgerson said.
The worst of these disasters was the Jasper wildfire, which destroyed nearly a third of the Jasper townsite and forced 25,000 visitors and residents to evacuate on July 22. Unable to go east or south, many evacuees fled west to Valemount. Overnight, the village of just over a thousand people had to accommodate 20,000 evacuees.
“It was unprecedented for our community, but we share such a deep and interconnected relationship with Jasper,” Torgerson said. “I mean, a community should never have to pose the question, ‘Is this the right thing to do?’”
The Yellowhead Highway, also known as Highway 16, remained closed through Jasper National Park for almost three weeks, opening to reduced traffic on Aug. 9 and fully reopening 10 days later. The Icefields Parkway reopened on Aug. 23.
Torgerson noted July through September were the “make-or-break months” for Valemount’s tourism businesses, which relied on this income to keep their doors open through the winter.
According to a survey by Strategies North, 70 per cent of businesses indicated without some form of government intervention, they may not be able to stay viable until a return to normal operations. A later impact survey showed the average and median reported revenue losses were $46,520 and $35,000 respectively.
The Village has since been lobbying the federal, B.C. and Alberta governments for $1.5 million in financial support, which would be distributed to local businesses through a third party.
Although Valemount is in British Columbia and the wildfire itself started on federal land, Torgerson argued the Alberta government should contribute since the Jasperites who came to Valemount are Alberta residents.
“The case we’re making is we have a relationship with Jasper, we have economic ties to Jasper, the community of Jasper and businesses have been recipients of extensive funding support after the wildfire, and that in that same spirit, we’re hoping that Alberta [gives] Valemount similar consideration for the economic hardships that we faced immediately after and [are] currently ongoing,” he said.
Valemount’s lobbying efforts have faced difficulties due to the recent B.C. election, the cabinet shuffle in Alberta, Parliament being prorogued for several months and the upcoming federal election.
Torgerson warns if support doesn’t come soon, businesses may soon start laying off employees, which could have a snowball effect.
“If you start laying folks off because you’re not able to cover their wages, do they go find work somewhere else? Do they move? Do they take the family with them? If they do have a family and they have children, does school enrollment go down?” he asked. “Once schools start closing, I think you’ve hit rock bottom.”
With extreme wildfires becoming a regular occurrence in Western Canada, Torgerson emphasized the need for governments to develop programming for communities indirectly impacted by natural disasters.
“If they want to view us as a pilot, to create policies, to create procedures, [we’re] happy to be that pilot,” he said. “It sucks paving the way, but we’re happy to do so.”
In a statement, B.C.’s Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness (EMCR) acknowledged last summer’s wildfires have impacted the province and thanked Valemount for supporting Jasper evacuees.
“EMCR is working with the Ministry of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation (JEDI) and other partners to support the community of Valemount as they recover from the indirect impacts of the Jasper wildfire,” the ministry stated. “In addition, the Village of Valemount has been supported with funding from EMCR to hire a recovery manager to support with recovery efforts.”
The ministry added it will continue to work closely with the small business community and local officials, and work was underway to assess the indirect and direct impacts of the wildfires.
Businesses highlight impacts of Jasper wildfire
Elliot Ingles, one of the owners of Vale Coffee, said roughly 70 to 80 per cent of the café’s business during the summer was based on tourism, and part of their business is wholesales to Jasper businesses.
“We were en route to have our best summer of all time since we opened, which is kind of a natural progression,” Ingles said. “It’s our fifth summer in business. Tourism was doing really well, Valemount was doing really well and August went from what would have been our best month of all time to one of our worst months.”
Business is still down for Vale Coffee, partly due to losing several wholesalers and the relative winter. Ingles noted any government support would be appreciated.
“The road closure was a killer for us,” Ingles said. “I think we all realized how vulnerable we were with that road cut off to traffic. It hurt. It was a real wake-up call for us.”
Ingles emphasized how fortunate they were to be able to help evacuees during the wildfire, such as by letting 20 people stay in their parking lot and keeping the café’s doors open, and how grateful they were for the support of locals and Jasperites passing through.
Patricia Thoni, who owns Caribou Grill with her husband, said they were reliant on tourists and motorists travelling between Alberta and Vancouver.
During the Jasper wildfire, they made space for eight tourists and several Jasper friends who had been evacuated. The highway closure, meanwhile, caused them to go from 180 customers a night to as low as 20 per night.
Although Thoni was concerned for other businesses and was glad the Village was lobbying for support, having operated in Valemount for 25 years, she was confident in the future of her business.
“We will make it if we do not get government support,” she said. “It’s not good, but we feel very fortunate compared to Jasper. So many lost business, but we didn't lose our buildings and our homes, so we'll survive it.”
Thoni was also confident that tourists would want to return to Jasper, and Mount Robson would also be a big draw, particularly if the Berg Lake Trail fully reopens this year as anticipated.
Yellowhead Helicopters, a regional commercial helicopter service that operates a base out of Valemount, had to pivot from sightseeing tours and backcountry drop-offs to helping government agencies combat wildfires last summer.
“Likely, in the grand scheme of things, it probably didn't affect our business last year,” said CEO Jacob Forman. “Where it might hurt us is in years where there's no wildfires and we're relying on tourism business. Obviously, if you're not operating in any given year, you're telling customers go find something else to do or that you're not available, and it's hard to build a business that way if we're not open for activities.”
Forman noted it could also be several years before Jasper completely recovers as a tourist destination, and if Valemount declined as a community, it would be more difficult to recruit and retain pilots.
Valemount Base Manager Matt Morison added the village was still feeling the aftereffects of the highway closure.
“You can feel it when you go into town, you talk to people, you got the heartbeat of what's going on inside the community,” Morison said. “There is that feeling, and there is still kind of that feeling going on right now, so I think it's very real; it’s very tangible.”
