Evacuation Support for NWT Businesses

Many NWT businesses have been impacted by the evacuation orders issued due to wildfires in the territory in 2023. The BDIC wants to support the business community during this challenging time. The following immediate supports will be available to NWT businesses.

Loan Payment Deferment

The BDIC will be automatically deferring loan payments for all clients until September 30, 2023, without penalty or additional interest charges. A deferral means that loan payments do not need to be made at this time, however, regular interest will still be charged, as per the loan agreement. All businesses in the Northwest Territories are automatically approved and are not required to demonstrate financial hardship or impacts resulting from the wildfires and evacuations.

If business clients would prefer to keep their regular payments and not defer any payments, then they should email the BDIC at bdicinfo@gov.nt.ca as soon as possible.

Wildfire Assistance and Relief Measures (WARM)

The Accelerate Digital Adoption Projects for Tomorrow (ADAPT) Fund has been expanded to allow for contributions to support NWT businesses adversely affected by the evacuations due to the NWT wildfires. This funding will offer support through the Wildfire Assistance and Relief Measures (WARM) initiative.

Through WARM, eligible businesses can receive a contribution up to $5,000 (maximum limit per business) if located in an evacuated community and up to $3,500 (maximum limit per business) if located in a non-evacuated community but adversely affected by the evacuation orders due to wildfires. Costs incurred from May 2023 onward will be considered and must be supported by receipts or equivalent proof. These supports (through WARM) are temporary additions to ADAPT and will be accessible until March 31, 2024.

WARM funding may support businesses with:

  • maintaining or creating employment
  • reduction of existing fixed overhead costs
  • clean-up and restoration of business operations to pre-evacuation conditions or levels
  • planning for and/or providing training and assistance (including professional fees) to help businesses access insurance and cover business insurance deductibles, develop or update business/continuity plans, and pursue other activities* required in response to the evacuations and wildfires

*other activities may include developing plans to improve business sustainability, including but not limited to the preparation of insurance claims, business loss quantification reports, or business valuations; developing or updating short-term business plans including cash and treasury management planning and developing revenue and expenditure forecasting models and estimates for business interruption insurance purposes; incremental recordkeeping to facilitate loss mitigation strategies and forward financial planning; and/or preparation of funding applications

Program Eligibility

To be eligible for WARM, the applicant must:

  • Be a business operating in the Northwest Territories; and
  • Be a business operating in a community that was issued an evacuation order or have operations adversely affected by the evacuation orders due to wildfires in the NWT.

The following types of businesses are ineligible:

  • Society
  • Non-profit organization

An applicant will also be ineligible for assistance under this program if the applicant has:

  • a Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) vendor account hold;
  • loans or debts with the GNWT or the BDIC that are not in good standing; or
  • loans or debts with the GNWT or the BDIC which have been written-off or forgiven under the Financial Administration Act

Consult our FAQ page to get more information about WARM. 

 

Complete an online application for WARM here.

Or download a fillable PDF form to print and email to bdicinfo@gov.nt.ca

 

The BDIC will also be exploring other ways to support businesses and will share any new information or updates here. Contact us at info@bdic.ca if you have any questions.