Harjit Sajjan toured the ruins of Lytton, B.C., on Tuesday, witnessing the full impact of what a wildfire did to the community when it raced through the village in June last year.

Just before the tour, the minister of international development announced $77 million in funding from the federal government to help Lytton rebuild a fire-resistant and energy-efficient community.

Owen Collings, a former resident and site support worker in Lytton, led the minister through the village, pointing to scorched remains of businesses and properties alongside blackened trees, describing the buildings that once stood there.

“I’ve been to a lot of places internationally but when you see it in your home country, it really hits you,” Sajjan told Collings, referencing his time as federal defence minister.

Sajjan, the member of Parliament for Vancouver South, said $64 million of the federal funds will be used to help rebuild public buildings, $6 million has been set aside for residents to bring their homes up to the same standards, while small- and medium-sized businesses will get $7.2 million to help them restart.

Sajjan said the disaster showed that fire spreads from one building to another, and making buildings fire-resistant would benefit the whole community.

Lytton could be a model of climate change recovery for the rest of Canada, said Sajjan, who made the announcement at a gas station on the highway outside of Lytton that escaped the wildfire.

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