The Mayor of Lytton says she feels a protest rally by residents last month appears to have led to some progress in the village’s two and a half year long rebuild.

Denise O’Connor says there were representatives from the province in the village of Lytton the week after the Oct. 18 rally, meeting with both residents and business owners.

“From that, we’ve actually had some answers to things. They’re still reaching out and wanting to talk to people,” O’Connor said on NL Newsday.

“That was positive sign as far as I could tell. I think it was the rally that resulted in those people visiting us here. I’d like to think that anyways.”

O’Connor previously told Radio NL that the rally – which was initiated by residents – was aimed at raising awareness about the slow rebuilding process. She says many residents feel “totally neglected” since the June 2021 fire which destroyed much of the village.

“They [provincial officials] need to be here to see what its like to talk to the people firsthand,” O’Connor said. “That is something that has been missing the whole time.”

“There have been people off in Victoria and other places taking about Lytton, making decisions about Lytton, who had never been here and talked to the people.”

Last last month, the village of Lytton issued its first building permit – for a home on Station Street downtown. O’Connor says while the village has waited a long time to reach that milestone, it was bittersweet.

“I just have a hard time accepting that it has taken two, going on two and a half years before we’re at the point where we’ve issued our first building permit,” she said. “I don’t know what the reason is, why its taken so long, but I don’t accept that.”

That first permit came about four months after backfilling work on properties that were destroyed began, with O’Connor suggesting that more are on the way.

“Things seem to be going fairly smooth at this moment, but there have been hiccups all along the way and as I’ve said before, its two steps forward and one step back,” O’Connor said.

“I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it just be the two steps forward and we’ll keep going but time will tell I guess.”