Downtown businesses forced to close for nearly a week amid ongoing demonstrations

As the city continues to grapple with the ongoing demonstrations, businesses have been at the brunt of the impact.

That's because some of those downtown businesses, especially, were forced to close its doors for nearly a week, according to Chair of Ottawa Coalition of BIAs, Michelle Groulx. 

Groulx explained to The Sam Laprade Show on Monday, February 7, that many businesses have also been fearful of opening since restrictions have eased on January 31, when the protest was in its third day.

“We're seeing a lot more closures directly because of the protests, whether it'd be fear of safety, noise, and then also obstruction,” she explained. “We're seeing a lot of business closed, a lot businesses had to send staff home and so you have a lot of people who haven't really been working for the past week.” 

In an effort to get a sense of the local business impact, the BIA developed a survey, which aims to survey downtown businesses directly impacted by the demonstrations.

She says that the survey grew in size, which was unexpected, as many businesses felt the need to share their responses and experiences of the past week.

“By Friday, we had 220 (responses) and we closed the survey and then we were asked to keep open because this isn't ending,”she said. “And the businesses that didn't fill it out before needed to have their say.” 

Although many businesses were impacted either because of the COVID-19 pandemic or the recent demonstrations, Groulx says businesses can turn to their local MPs who may have financial resources, or be able to point them in the right direction to such help, that will help them recoup some of their losses.

Groulx also notes that the Ottawa's downtown tourism industry has taken a hit but she's hopeful that businesses in the downtown core will open up again. 

You can listen Michelle Groulx's full conversation here: