Recovery funding helps keep 'doors open and staff employed' business owners tell Fedeli

A local business that once relied heavily on visitors from around the world reorganized and moved to an online model — aided in part by grant money from the Northern Ontario Recovery Program (NORP) — and has survived the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Normally, our business depends on an international clientele travelling to North Bay, which was made impossible by COVID-19," explains Mark Downey, CEO of Fur Harvesters Auction Inc. "With our normal business operations disrupted at the same time that we were in expansion mode, NORP funding has been a real shot in the arm, helping us to keep our doors open and our staff employed."

After an application process through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC), the North Bay-based Fur Harvesters Auction is one of 145 businesses that will share $2.91 million in NORP funding in the Nipissing region, as announced Friday by MPP Vic Fedeli. The NORP grants deliver dedicated funds to Northern businesses, designed to support necessary upgrades and improvements to protect employees, customers, and the community from the spread of COVID-19. 

"Supporting business is vital to our region's economic recovery," says Fedeli. "This funding, exclusively for Northern businesses, is an example of the Ontario government’s commitment to the North."

Julie Gohm, the owner of the Original Bug Shirt Company in Powassan thanked MPP Fedeli and noted, "Receiving this funding has enabled The Original Bug Shirt Company to restructure the inside of our workplace, thereby allowing us to retain all of our employees during COVID-19."  

As part of the announcement, Fedeli classified the funding as "great news for businesses in our community. We're all too familiar with the scale of economic hardship COVID-19 has brought to every region of our province — including here, in northeastern Ontario. Hardships that go far beyond what NORP can offer but this is a step in the right direction."

Owners of Mattawa's Voyageur Inn, Sudawan and Qaisar Butt say, "During this pandemic, we’ve all been through a lot. We knew we would have to make changes in our operation, yet we lacked the funds to do so. With this grant, we’ve been able to complete all renovations and increase safety measures for guests and staff."

The NOHFC's NORP program has approved funding for over 1,300 businesses throughout the north and across sectors such as tourism, food service, and retail. Submissions closed on November 20, 2020. Businesses were encouraged to apply for assistance with projects that help them adjust to the impacts of COVID-19, including, but not limited to: 

• Building renovations and new constructions 
• Customer and employee safety installations 
• Personal protective equipment (PPE) purchases 
• Marketing for new business initiatives 
• Restructuring of business operations 

The NOHFC says it closed all other programs on September 30, 2020, to allow the corporation to focus exclusively on NORP. The Ontario government has since launched new and improved NOHFC programs.