Toronto businesses clean-up, check policy coverage in wake of G20 vandalism

As the City of Toronto settles down to tally the final damages caused by vandals and looters during the G20 summit on June 26-27, the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) has posted general information about personal and commercial policy coverage related to the G20 event on its Web site.
The Web site notes, “the damage caused by the vandalism would generally be covered [under commercial property insurance], but loss of business income would only be covered under a business income policy.”
Insurance coverage for business income is generally purchased separately from insurance on the commercial property.
There may be coverage under a commercial business income policy if a business is forced to close because of damage to neighbouring properties as a result of any perils listed in the policy.
Otherwise, the commercial business income policy requires that there be damage to the commercial policyholder’s own business in order to trigger a payment due to income loss because of the business interruption.
IBC notes its information is only general in nature and directs insureds to consult their specific policies. The IBC information is available at: http://www.ibc.ca/en/G20.asp
Also, IBC points out that while the federal government is not legally bound to pay compensation for losses suffered as a result of international meetings held in Canada, the government does have information related to guidelines related to such compensation.
The information is on the Web site of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade at: http://www.ibc.ca/en/G20.asp