This paper studies the short-term effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on self-employed individuals in Canada — those interpreted as small business owners, who may never recover from the crisis. The paper uses the Labour Force Survey to document a 14.8% and 10.1% drop in business ownership for incorporated and unincorporated entities, respectively, between February and May of this year. There has been a substantial decrease in business ownership for immigrants (–16.1%), women (–12.9%) and less-educated individuals (–17.8%). The occupational categories that experienced the largest decline in the number of small businesses are in art, culture, and recreation; education, law, and social, community and government services; and sales and service occupations.