Edmonton fire struggles with discrimination, bullying and diversity; trust in leadership broken

The Edmonton fire department is struggling with discrimination and bullying, and efforts to make the workforce more diverse are facing resistance at a time where trust between demoralized firefighters and management has broken down.

Postmedia obtained an internal summary of the Edmonton Fire Rescue Service’s (EFRS) 2022 workplace assessment by Canadian law firm Rubin Thomlinson released internally to employees in April. The report outlines allegations of sexist, racist and homophobic comments and behaviour, bullying and hazing, and inadequate mental health supports and tactical training. At the same time, it illustrates significant skepticism of and resistance to the department’s specific diversity programs and training, that many feel is out of touch.

The summary, which outlines key themes from a 600-plus participant survey and 88 interviews, describes a culture of fear: fear of retaliation for speaking up about discrimination and bullying, and on the other hand, fear that making a mistake could mean losing their jobs.

It also shows low morale and a lack of confidence in Chief Joe Zatylny and his leadership team. Firefighters’ job satisfaction has plummeted since he took the helm in 2020, other city surveys show.

Postmedia spoke to seven current or former EFRS employees including the union’s president, and city manager Andre Corbould. These interviews corroborated or expanded on the experiences and opinions described in the Rubin Thomlinson report.

EFRS leadership and the City of Edmonton are working on an action plan to respond to each of the firm’s 21 recommendations and hope to rebuild trust. Chief Zatylny has taken a leave of absence for personal reasons and did not respond to interview requests.

Discrimination, bullying and hazing

Positive feedback about the camaraderie, trust and mentorship between colleagues in fire halls, feeling like a family, and a sense of pride in their work was most common in the workplace assessment. 

But a supportive workplace culture isn’t experienced equally by everyone all the time.

Some experienced racist comments directly and saw racist materials distributed within fire halls. Workers also heard racially charged inappropriate jokes, and derogatory comments about members of the public while on-call or at dispatch. Some examples of homophobic comments and attitudes were given.

Questioning women employees’ qualifications, excluding women from aspects of their job, “sexualized” and misogynistic comments, displaying sexist material, “demonstrations and gestures of disrespect,” and dismissing outreach programs to draw more women firefighters were reported. 

Bullying by peers or leaders more generally, such as being pressured to do extra work, isolated, targeted by gossip, teased or yelled at, threatened with job loss, and treated unfairly because of political views, was reported.

Fear of speaking up is a common thread. This apprehension was made clear during Postmedia’s interviews with current and former EFRS employees. Names of confidential sources are replaced with pseudonyms because they fear professional repercussions and retaliation.

Several firefighters told Postmedia fire halls are like locker rooms for men’s hockey teams. They said derogatory comments about marginalized populations — particularly Indigenous people, women, and homeless people — are common.

“The racism and misogyny and homophobia is pretty rampant … If firefighters are saying, ‘No, that doesn’t happen,’ then they’re not paying attention,” one employee, Alex, said. 

“Everybody expects firefighters to go and help everybody regardless of who they are, and we do, but behind closed doors, it’s a different narrative.”

Another EFRS employee described hearing male firefighters regularly talk about women’s sexual histories and making sexualized comments about women’s bodies which can make employees feel unsafe and unwelcome.

Those who spoke with Postmedia were clear most firefighters aren’t engaging in discriminatory behaviour — all said they don’t support it. But they said although many firefighters disagree with these actions, they fear speaking up for others, or themselves, will alienate them from the rest of their crews.

The fear of reprisal is so prevalent that another EFRS employee, Sam, said some didn’t even feel safe participating in the Rubin Thomlinson confidential assessment.

“It’s career-ending. You wouldn’t feel safe, you wouldn’t feel welcome in the fire hall if you spoke against the majority, because people don’t believe (them)… they sum it up to them being unworthy, or lazy, or that they’re just not fit for the job,” Sam said.

Sam also worries new recruits from minority populations will be “rookied harder” by older white, male firefighters, because of a prevailing but mistaken belief the hiring standards have been lowered.

“If you fail these tests, obviously, it’s your reputation that suffers … whatever it is that you didn’t do, it will be spread (through) gossip and rumour,” Sam said. “There’s no avenue for safety when you’re underrepresented … if you go out of your way to express a need for something, everyone will know about it.”

These experiences aren’t universal. Some surveyed, and interviewed by Postmedia, who self-identified as racialized, women or part of the LGBTQ2S+ community spoke positively about their workplace and felt included. One woman, a former employee, said she never felt slighted because of her race or gender by firefighters although she doesn’t feel she was treated fairly by management. However, she knows others have different experiences because of how many men there are compared to women.

City manager Andre Corbould and the mayor both said they’re grateful for the work firefighters do. Corbould emphasized issues with discrimination are a problem with some individuals and not the entire fire service, but issues with systemic racism will take time to fix.

“I want to be also absolutely clear that bullying, harassment, discrimination are just not acceptable anywhere in the city, they’re not consistent with our policies … and those things won’t be tolerated,” he said, adding they will not hesitate to use the appropriate discipline.

Corbould said the city and fire leadership are working on the action plan and “we’re going to deal with these concerns” and that discriminatory behaviour will not be tolerated.

He said the city wants to create a culture where not only can people speak up if they are experiencing issues themselves, but also where people feel free to speak up and say “that was inappropriate. We should talk about that.”

Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said in a statement he is “deeply saddened” to hear of the systemic issues around discrimination and with the challenges around the EDI training. He said the city manager and fire chief are committed to making changes and communication needs to be improved.

“Each and every service member in EFRS deserves a safe and inclusive work environment where they are able to thrive. … Every day, members of the EFRS go above and beyond their duty to serve and protect Edmontonians,” he said.

The city has a safe disclosure office for those who want to raise concerns confidentially.

Low morale

But morale has plummeted under Zatylny’s leadership. The Rubin Thomlinson report shows broken trust between firefighters and management. 

Some firefighters say mental health supports have weakened and leadership is top-heavy and makes poor decisions. They say the chief is a poor communicator and doesn’t seek input from workers on the ground, leading to a disconnect between firefighters and the executive team. Many don’t feel their safety and tactical skills training is being prioritized.

Edmonton Fire Fighters Union president Greg Rehman said morale is the lowest he’s seen in decades.

“People don’t feel supported right now,” he told Postmedia. “People feel the management is being disingenuous, so when they’re bringing feelings and concerns forward … a lot of the times they’re being dismissed and discounted. Our members, they want deeds not words from our management.”

Firefighters attributed this in the report to the COVID-19 pandemic, the opioid crisis, increased call volumes, and actions by the chief and leadership. Rehman said workers are feeling the strain of the increased call volumes and don’t feel like they’re getting the help they need.

Alex, a EFRS employee, said the department is “outright failing” to support their mental health.

One EFRS employee interviewed by Postmedia, Courtney, feels the leadership team is “running our fire department into the ground.”

“(We) want to change management … If you were to put a vote up today to the whole floor, they would say, ‘Look, we need a new chief. We need a new deputy chief.’ ”

The relationship between management and firefighters is so poor the Edmonton Fire Fighters Union made the unprecedented move to not invite the chief to the annual retirement banquet last month, describing a “significant deterioration in the working relationship” in a letter obtained by Postmedia.

The City of Edmonton’s job satisfaction surveys show 48 per cent of EFRS workers say they are happy with their job, down from 90 per cent in 2018. Unionized firefighters have been without a renewed contract for more than four years.

Other employees, however, are supportive of the leadership’s direction.

Tension over diversity training

The city-run equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) training is causing some of the most tension.

While many surveyed said they generally support diversity, there is conflict around the specific training modules and other decisions meant to diversify the workforce. Some feared this training is being prioritized over others. Multiple firefighters Postmedia spoke with echoed these views.

“We don’t want racism, we don’t want sexism, we want that out of our job completely,” Courtney said.  “I really believe in diversity and inclusion. I really do. I think it’s something that definitely needs to change in our world … but not at the cost of safety.”

Some firefighters feel the EDI modules are negative, blaming, and do not encourage learning. Others felt “silenced or intimidated” by the content and said difficult questions were not handled well, the report states.

“You’re trying so hard to have a diverse department, but at the same time, you’re making it so that it’s very hard for people to accept anybody new that way because you’re scared for your own job,” Jesse, a firefighter said. “You’re scared for what you can say and can’t say.”

Some EFRS employees told Postmedia they feel discouraged by or resent the resistance to the EDI training. They correctly pointed out the goal of the Rubin Thomlinson review was to hear how people feel, not fact-check whether what they are saying is true.

“I think it’s a resistance to change, a resistance to evolve,” Sam said. “I just feel like this whole workplace assessment is just pandering to their white fragility. They’re always talking about how they’re walking on eggshells and not knowing what they can or cannot say, when that’s such a cop-out.

“In a department where we’re trying to effectively give change and give safety and belonging to underrepresented people, it’s going to be a battle that is so hard to win.”

Alex said some seem to be having a hard time absorbing the training because they feel like the city is pushing it down their throats, and there is a lot of misplaced anger.

“I understand people feel the way the feel, but their feelings are kind of misplaced … there’s no self-reflection,” Alex said. “It’s a longstanding euphemism that we don’t like change, and we don’t like the way things are.

“The problem is that people don’t understand what they’re saying is racist, misogynist, homophobic or discriminatory or hateful in any kind of way.”

Concerns about hiring practices and “lowering standards” to accommodate a diverse workforce appeared throughout the report and were echoed in interviews with Postmedia. In fact, the city says standards are high and rigorous. The city also has outreach programs to get the interest of groups who otherwise may have been less likely to apply.

Tailor training to firefighters: expert

Diversity and inclusion training expert and UCLA professor Corrine Bendersky is not surprised to hear there is pushback to EDI training. Bendersky, who spent years researching fire departments, said firefighters need programs tailored specifically to them because they are skeptical of outsiders who do not understand them.

When cities bring in their human resources team for firefighters’ EDI training, usually it doesn’t resonate, she said.

“Credibility in the fire service is 100 per cent based on your firefighter competence. They are really resistant to outsiders telling them they should do something differently when you don’t know about the fire service,” Bendersky said. “If it’s not coming from credible and respected members of the fire service, it’s going to backfire. Period.”

Some firefighters feel like they are “walking on eggshells” for fear of offending someone. One firefighter told Postmedia he is afraid to talk to women firefighters because he worries he may unintentionally say something offensive and get fired.

Bendersky said this is common in fire halls and comes down to a lack of training around handling interpersonal conflict.

But firefighters shouldn’t be afraid to ask difficult questions in training sessions, she said. Many firefighters are concerned about changes in hiring practices, often related to safety concerns, and this needs to be addressed in a constructive way, she said.

“If I can’t express my skepticism without being labeled as a racist or sexist, then I don’t feel that it’s inclusive … It’s actually really hard to do well to facilitate dialogue that’s tolerant of the wide range of opinions,” she said. “Even if it is sort of a very inappropriate or very ignorant comment, it’s taking that opportunity to question, or to learn and grow from it, rather than to quash that kind of inquiry.”

The city manager said he’s heard from the fire chief and the union that firefighters should be involved in delivering the EDI training, and he agrees it is a good idea for any city department to have influence in the workplace, although he said some modules will be the same for all city departments.

Corbould said this feeling of “walking on eggshells” is something discussed during the training and he wants employees to be able to talk about it.

“We believe there is a learning environment,” he said. “We want people to speak about this, because it’s only if people speak about it … that we’re going to we’re going to change some of the culture.”

But some ideas, although uncomfortable, still need to be discussed, he said.

“There is a thing called white privilege. We know it exists, it’s part of our anti-racism training to understand that I am a white man, I have come from white privilege. And I have personally learned on my own personal journey about what that means,” he said. “We’re not going to shy away from talking about things like that.”

“White privilege is a reality in our society, and it contributes to racism. … We are tackling that up front in this city, and we’re going to talk about it.”

He said the city provides the fire department with courses on respectful workplace behaviour, inclusive language workshops, and lessons on Indigenous history.

List: Rubin Thomlinson’s recommendations