The Esquimalt Fire Department’s participation in crowd control alongside police officers at last Sunday’s anti-racism rally is being criticized by the union representing Victoria firefighters.
Esquimalt firefighters are part of the Greater Victoria Crowd Management Unit, which saw officers and firefighters stationed around Centennial Square, where thousands of people gathered for a peaceful rally in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Ajay Leblanc, treasurer of the Victoria Firefighters’ Union Local 730, has spent years opposing firefighter participation in the crowd-control unit, which he says amounts to firefighters doing police work.
“If you want to do police work, you should do it in your jurisdiction,” he said.
But Esquimalt firefighters say what they do in the unit doesn’t amount to police work.
“On this regional team [firefighters] function only as medics trained to provide urgent medical care and extrication in the unlikely event an officer is injured,” Andrew Zado, president of the Esquimalt Fire Fighters Association, said in a statement.
Fire department members have no enforcement or crowd control role, said Esquimalt Fire Chief Chris Jancowski.
“The ultimate goal of the fire medics is to enable police officers to focus on their mission of public order while enabling fire medics to focus on imminent fire-suppression duties and medical care for the team,” Jancowski said.
Tensions have been high between the two unions since the Esquimalt department agreed that four of its firefighters and one assistant chief would be part of the regional crowd management unit. It was formed in 2017 after the report into the 2011 Stanley Cup riots in Vancouver recommended multi-agency co-operation during large events.
Victoria firefighters did not join because they took issue with what they saw as firefighters doing the job of police officers.
“From the beginning, it was the position of Victoria firefighters that this was police work that should be conducted by police officers,” Leblanc said. He’s concerned that, when deployed, firefighters report to a police officer instead of a fire commander.
The crowd management unit is made up of officers from the Victoria, Saanich, Oak Bay and Central Saanich police departments. The unit is funded by those four departments and overseen by a joint management team.
“Esquimalt is currently the only fire agency involved, but we are in discussions with all the other municipal fire agencies to join the team,” said Victoria police spokesman Const. Cam MacIntyre.
The medics have a backpack with medical supplies and do not wear police uniforms, MacIntyre said. A blue cross on their uniform identifies them as medics, he said. Their equipment, training and deployment is overseen by VicPD’s medical director, Dr. Mark Vu.
In the event of major civil disobedience with violence, the firefighters would wear personal protective equipment such as a ballistic vest and a helmet with visor. “This is to protect them from projectiles while attending to victims of an incident,” MacIntyre said. None of that equipment was worn on Sunday, he said.
The two fire departments have a troubled past. In 2002, then-Esquimalt mayor Darwin Robinson reneged on a deal to merge the Victoria and Esquimalt fire departments at the same time the municipal police departments were being joined. Prior to 2002, Esquimalt had a joint police and fire department.
Victoria had already reached a deal to provide firefighting for Esquimalt at a cost of $2.1 million for Esquimalt taxpayers; however, Robinson campaigned on a promise to stop the deal. When he was elected as mayor, Esquimalt backed out of the merger, even though Victoria had hired new firefighters and purchased new equipment.
Victoria sued Esquimalt for $350,000 to cover its added costs. Robinson said at the time keeping the standalone fire department was a matter of community pride. The departments settled for $150,000.
“It is ironic that Esquimalt Fire used to be Esquimalt Police and Fire and now it seems like they want to go back and be police officers,” Leblanc quipped.
In his statement, Zado said union members support the crowd management unit at the direction of their employer, which signed onto the team.
“We believe these concerns need to be resolved between our respective fire departments’ management as this is beyond our control as a union,” he said. “We agree that Victoria firefighters should be performing this work in their city. We hope this can be resolved soon.”
