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A Fire Service for All: Exploring Ways to Further Diversity and Inclusivity for Women in the Canadian Fire Industry.

We are pleased to present this report entitled A Fire Service for All: Exploring Ways to Further Diversity and Inclusivity for Women in the Canadian Fire Industry. This report synthesizes the findings from the September 13, 2019 joint meeting of the Alberta Fire, Emergency Management and Wildfire Management Women (A FEW Women), and the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs (CAFC) Women Fire Chiefs and Company Officers Network of Canada.

This is an important report for the CAFC. Diversity, equity and inclusion with a focus on gender and more recently on race and ethnicity are a core priority for the CAFC. They are viewed and embraced as fundamental to our future success as a sector, and not as a special interest pursuit. Our thanks to the AFEW Women who co-hosted this national event in their home province and to the Government of Alberta who supplied a facilitator for the event and who provided thoughtful review of this report, as well as to all our provincial counterparts across the country.

For many who attended the September 13 meeting, this was the largest meeting of women in the fire service that they had ever attended. The session was followed by an all “allies” meeting. This report, therefore, synthesizes both portions. The result is not only the learnings which we have documented, but also calls to action.

For the women who attended this meeting, we thank you for your leadership and willingness to think about how we can best support women currently in the fire service and how we can create environments that will attract and retain more women into the industry. You are trailblazers. We recognize the irony and burden of this. We hope your experiences will help to normalize the opportunity for more women to “enter, stay and succeed” in the fire service.

For all of the allies reading this report, we thank you for the transformational changes you are helping to lead and the support you already provide. It is our hope and belief that in recommendations focussed here on addressing issues related to women in the fire service, will also create a better environment for everyone.