Open Letter — Urgent need for safe reopening plan for BC weddings and events
Updated: February 9, 2022
The Honorable Adrian Dix
Minister of Health
HLTH.Minister@gov.bc.ca
The Honorable Ravi Kahlon
Minister of Jobs, Economic Recovery & Innovation
JEDC.Minister@gov.bc.ca
The Honorable Melanie Mark
Minister of Tourism, Art, Culture & Sport
TAC.Minister@gov.bc.ca
The Honorable Selina Robinson
Minister of Finance
FIN.Minister@gov.bc.ca
The Honorable Mike Farnworth
Deputy Premier, Solicitor General, Public Safety Works
PSSG.Minister@gov.bc.ca
Re: Urgent need for safe reopening plan for BC weddings and events
Dear Minister Dix, Minister Kahlon, Minister Farnworth, Minister Robinson, Minister Mark, and Dr. Bonnie Henry,
The BC wedding and event industry has been working tirelessly to petition our provincial government to allow our sector to re-open under specific safety guidelines and protocols. Unfortunately, as an industry made up of small-medium sized businesses, our voices have not been heard over the past two years, and continue to not be heard.
According to BC Vital Statistics, there were nearly 24,000 weddings in BC in 2019. An average wedding in BC costs about $50,000. That's $1.2 billion dollars per year generated by our industry from weddings alone. This doesn’t take into account any other types of personal celebrations. Nor does it take into account corporate events, community events, or charity events. The business meetings and events industry estimates their operations generate $4.5 billion per year in the province.
Despite this massive contribution to our economy, our industry has been ignored. Over the past two years, we have barely been acknowledged by health officials and the media. While restaurants, gyms, and sporting venues have made headlines, we have been invisible. Dr. Bonnie Henry regularly speaks about working alongside many of BC's other sectors. Our industry has not been given this same opportunity at any point during the pandemic response.
That $1.2 billion per year is generated largely by small-medium businesses. For the past two years, these businesses have been decimated. When weddings and events are shut down, the impact on our industry extends 6-12 months minimum beyond the lockdown period. We cannot reopen and close overnight like a restaurant or gym. The average loss of revenue across our industry has been 70%-90% consistently since March 2020. Many well-established companies have filed for bankruptcy and the number of jobs lost is in the tens of thousands. Since the start of the pandemic, we have seen zero economic recovery.
As long as health order restrictions on organized events and gatherings continue to flip flop, we will not begin to recover. With each shutdown and change in restrictions, we suffer the loss of contracts, deferred revenues, refunds, and a lack of new business because of the uncertainty around future health orders. The industry cannot sustain the uncertainty any longer.
Adding to the hardship, businesses across our sector that applied for the COVID Closure Relief Grant are now being denied eligibility. The eligibility issue is due to a lack of consideration by the provincial government for how our industry operates and the nature of our business structure when they created the grant criteria.
It’s hard to fathom how our industry has been completely shut down by government mandates since December 22, 2021, and no financial assistance has been provided to us.
Just as any other industry can operate safely under specific restrictions, so can weddings and events. Events run by professionals function no differently than restaurants, malls, group fitness, casinos, sporting events, movie theatres, and more. We have already implemented safety plans and executed events successfully over the course of the pandemic without any COVID cases connected.
Despite continuous efforts to be heard by our local MLAs and the health office, we have been dismissed, belittled, and ignored. Our government's lack of confidence in our professional multi-billion dollar industry has become unacceptable. Dr. Bonnie Henry's recent remarks about events and gatherings show that she and the provincial government are profoundly misinformed about the way our industry operates.
To be clear, we are not talking about throwing a “party.” We are asking to operate professionally managed indoor events and gatherings under specific guidelines and restrictions. We’re welcoming government, WorkSafeBC, and Provincial Health Authority oversight to make sure we have protocols in place to operate our events safely for everyone involved. We cannot understand why this was a reasonable request for every other industry—movie theatres, casinos, restaurants, Canucks games, shopping malls, concerts, fitness classes, gyms—but not ours.
We demand equal treatment with all other industries currently operating under provincial health guidelines. As such, we are asking Dr. Bonnie Henry, Minister Adrian Dix, and our provincial government for immediate consultation with our industry and a plan for the safe re-opening of BC weddings and events once and for all beginning on February 16.
To support this effort, we specifically request the following action steps:
The release of a detailed PHO on gathering events to include a distinction between professionally managed and non-professionally managed indoor gatherings and events, and specific restrictions based on clearly defined event formats. (For example: We don’t understand the difference between a "sponsored or ticketed party" and a "sponsored or ticketed event").
Revision of the current misinformed and confusing terminology of “personal gatherings,” “organized indoor events,” and “organized indoor events at venues” being used by the provincial health office.
A designated roundtable working group of event industry professionals to serve as advisors to the health office and to be consulted on the above two initiatives and all future event-related policies.
Additionally, a formal petition is currently collecting signatures here.
We will not survive one more shutdown.
Here are some links to the media coverage on this issue:
Industry support can be found on Instagram at the hashtag #reopenbcweddings and #savebcevents
We look forward to your prompt response regarding this urgent matter.
Regards,
BC Wedding and Events Industry Association