One year after the fire (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

Lytton Rebuild

Firm representing Lytton residents slams government for slow pace of rebuilding

May 29, 2023 | 3:15 PM

LYTTON, B.C. — The law firm representing Lytton residents in a proposed class action lawsuit related to the 2021 fire that destroyed the village is expressing frustration at the slow pace of rebuilding.

A wildfire swept through Lytton on June 30, 2021, just days after the community set records for the highest temperatures ever recorded in Canada.

Since the fire was extinguished, there has been very little on-the-ground work to rebuild.

In a post to its website dated Friday (May 26), Slater Vecchio says nearly two full years after the fire, the Government of B.C. has “refused to issue any permits to facilitate the reconstruction of buildings in Lytton.”

“Such inaction is a stark reminder of the difficulties that individuals impacted by the Lytton Creek Wildfire have faced every single day for nearly two years, and of those difficulties that they will continue to face for the foreseeable future,” said the law firm.

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About three months after the fire, Slater Vecchio filed a class action lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court on behalf of the community’s residents. The suit names Canadian Pacific Railway (now CPKC), Canadian National Railway, the Attorney General of Canada and others for their roles in the disaster.

The firm says the Supreme Court of B.C. has yet to rule on whether the suit can go to trial.