Lytton residents offended by advert filmed in their destroyed village | Native Residential Schools

The ad for ATCO Group, a Calgary-based company active in the engineering, logistics and energy sectors, shows two young children driving through a city while carrying a small tree in a cart which they pull behind she, on a cover of the 1985 song by Katrina and the Waves, Walking on Sunshine.

As they stroll through the streets of the village, they come across workers driving their construction machine or their truck bearing the name of the company, while the facades of charred buildings and other traces of the fire.

The young girls then pass a sign indicating school reopens today. They stop in front of the building, made up of modular flocked with the name of the company, and try in vain to dig a hole to plant the tree they are transporting.

An ATCO employee, who observes the scene, then stops his work and comes to help the girls dig a hole. The ad ends with the tagline For over 75 years we have been where the world needs us.

I think this advertisement is in very bad taste. says Lytton resident Micha Kingston, who wonders why the company try to capitalize on [leur] tragedy.

She adds that it was difficult to watch an advertisement featuring young children from Lytton, when she and her daughter are not allowed to return to town.

” It’s ridiculous to suggest that the children of Lytton happily wander the streets to school, and it lessens the suffering of all the residents who are still displaced. »

In the video described by ACTO as “entirely fictional”, two girls walk towards an installation that is supposed to represent their new temporary school.

Photo: YouTube/ACTO

She also notes that if they were allowed to go to their village, they would have to wear personal protective equipment, unlike the people in the ad.

It’s kind of like a slap in the face to see these young kids walking aroundshe continues.

Video entirely fictional

In a statement, the company admits the school reopening script is a work of fiction, and said it worked with the village and donated to reconstruction efforts before filming began. The advertisement.

We didn’t intend to represent Lytton, but to film a story inspired by our work – which includes responding to disasters and building things like schools in Canada, Australia and beyond.the company said in a statement.

On the social network Twitter, she specified that the story was entirely fictional and that one portion advertising had been filmed in Lytton.

“Bewildering”

Liberal MP for Peace River North Dan Davies raised the issue in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday, asking why a private company was able to film a commercial in Lytton before residents were allowed to return to rebuild their lives.

BC Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said it was a decision made by Lytton City Council, adding that it is not something he would have done.

They don’t come to ask permission from the provincesaid Mike Farnworth. Quite frankly, I found it mind-boggling that this could happen.

Lytton Mayor Jan Polderman said on Thursday he had not seen the final advertisement, but the filming had not hampered cleanup efforts.

He acknowledges that there are a small number of critics of the video, but also points out that it is meant to show that the rebuilding effort is beginning.

With information from Jon Azpiri.