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Between December 2 and 4, 2024, 55 fire chiefs from all parts of the country, spent 36 hours on the Hill. They engaged in over 80 meetings on the state of the fire and emergency sector.  They asked all parties, MPs and Senators to consider:

• Installing a National Fire Administration
  
• Re-stimulate investment in emergency preparedness equipment

The leave behind is available here. The GR week press release is available here.

The fire chiefs had the opportunity to meet with the Right Honourable Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, The Honourable Minister of Emergency Preparedness Harjit Sajjan, Parliamentary Secretary for Emergency Preparedness Sherry Romanado, Shadow Ministers, Staff from the Department of Finance, Assistance Deputy Ministers, Members of Parliament from all parties, esteemed members of the Senate senior staff, and others.

Our elected officials were open-hearted, open-minded, and prepared.

The event began with the launch of the Great Canadian Fire Census 2024, which provides the data substantiating the issues and solutions brought to the Hill.

GR Week 2024 was a genuine public policy discussion. None of the recommendations that the fire chiefs presented were new. In fact, the same recommendations that were presented in previous years were already echoed in reports by the Standing Committee on Finance.

What was new was the shift “from what to how”; no longer talking about what needs to be done, but rather how to do it, and the need to do it urgently.

This year’s Census report highlighted not only the impact of a lack of overall coordination on issues of federal priority from the lack of emergency resources to support housing development to green technologies like lithium-ion batteries, to wildfire response, to explosives, emergency management and the coordination of civilian response capacity and in the health systems but also the growing gap in equipment replacement capacity that fire departments are experiencing across the country, which puts almost half of communities at risk of downgraded fire protection rating due to aging equipment.

However what happens on the Hill depends on what happens the whole year through. Despite another unprecedented year, fire chiefs from across Canada have taken the time to contribute to CAFC’s public policy discussions; generate data; examine specific issues; develop solutions; and communicate them.

On the media side, Hill Times set the table with a full-page story called “This Country Urgently Needs A National Fire Administration". The Globe and Mail followed with a front page article on the Census, and an editorial article about urban wildfires. This was continued CBC Syndication with radio shows in all parts of the country from coast to coast to coast, City TV, CTV, and others all pitched in to help Canadians understand the state of the Fire Sector. Clips and articles are available here.

What did we take away from Government Relations Week 2024? The need for a national fire administration is urgent. The data shows Canada will not be ready for wildfire season 2025, nor for the convergence of events associated with rapid housing development, the potential of communities losing their fire protection rating, lithium-ion batteries, explosives and aging equipment. It resonated on the hill, and it’s doable and affordable. All elected officials and policy makers need to do is act.

GR Week 2024 was an event to remember. The CAFC would like to acknowledge all our public officials who took the time to meet with us either individually or collectively at the reception, Summa Strategies for their work in this year’s event, ElissaPR who did our media outreach, the committees who provided the content for the meetings; staff and all fire chiefs who made the trip to Ottawa. 

Below is a sampling of available photographs from the event. Any errors or omissions are unintended.

55 fire chiefs from all parts of the country spent 36 hours on the Hill. They had over 80 meetings with government officials on the state of fire and emergency in Canada

CAFC Board of Directors began Government Relations Week with a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and MP Sherry Romanado during Government Relations Week 2024.

Chiefs meet with Members of Parliament Arpan Khanna and Joyce Murray

Chiefs meet with MP Valerie Bradford and staff members

Chiefs meet with MP Andréanne Larouche and MP Larry Brock

Chiefs meet with MP Sean Casey and MP Laurel Collins

Chiefs meet with MP Francesco Sorbara and MP Mel Arnold

Chiefs meet with MP John Barlow and MP Damien C. Kurek

Chiefs meet with MP Ziad Aboultaif and MP Arnold Viersen

Chiefs meet with MP Clifford Small, MP Churence Rogers and MP Joanne Thompson

Chiefs meet with MP Richard Cannings

Chiefs meet with MP Kody Blois and Senator Percy Downe

Chiefs meet with MP Jaime Battiste and MP Pierre Paul-Hus

Chiefs meet with MP Taleeb Noormohamed and MP Stephen Ellis

The Honourable Harjit S. Sajjan, Minister of Emergency Preparedness and MP Sherry Romanado speak at the CAFC Chiefs on the Hill Reception to visiting fire chiefs.

Chiefs commemorate a successful GR Week with MP Sherry Romanado and Minister Sajjan and engage in discussions with Minister Sajjan

Chiefs commemorate GR week with MP Blaine Calkins, MP Damien C. Kurek, and MP Laurel Collins

Chiefs engaging with MP Salma Zahid and MP Laural Collins

Chiefs engages in discussion with staff members at the Government Relations Week Reception

Chiefs discuss our asks with MP Laural Collins and staff members

Chiefs in conversation with MP Corey Tochor and The Honourable Anita Anand, Minister of Transport

Chiefs in conversation with MP Taylor Bachrach and MP Leah Taylor Roy

Chiefs in conversation with MP Corey Tochor and staff members

*Available photographs, more being added as received. If you have photos you would like added please email zboicescu@cafc.ca