Outgoing Vancouver fire chief reflects on difficulties of diversifying force

Despite his best efforts, Vancouver Fire Chief John McKearney will retire without having substantially increased the number of women in the fire force — one of his major goals when he was appointed as chief in 2009.

"When I took over as chief, we put a mandate of 10 per cent women in 10 years as a soft target," he said.

"We went from six women at that time to 23 today [out of 800 staff] which is not nearly close to the goal I had set. We have a really strong challenge in attracting women to the profession."

McKearney is retiring from his position at the end of the month, after nearly 37 years in the force.

He said he tried to recruit women from universities and the military, and says the department is a leading sponsor of Camp Ignite, a firefighting camp for young girls.

McKearney says they also run a cadet program for both girls and boys that has helped bring in some new recruits to the fore.

"Part of it is women don't see themselves in this role," he explained. "For some reason, they think they can't live up to the strenuous work that's there."

Firefighting remains one of the most exclusively male professions across Canada, and a 2015 fifth estate investigation found some of Canada's female firefighters have also faced bullying, harassment and sexual assault on the job.

"We do need women in this organization," McKearney said. "If they give us a chance, we'll get them through."

Racial representation

The force's racial make-up has also been criticized for not representing the demographics of the city.

According to the 2011 census, at least 51.8 per cent of Vancouver's population are visible minorities, predominantly Chinese, South Asian and Filipino.

The city doesn't keep track of how many visible minorities work in the fire department, but McKearney admits the force is "predominantly white."

McKearney claimed, however, the fire department had been much more successful in getting "cultural representation" in recent years.

"There's an appreciable mix of community representation, albeit no gender diversity in the last couple of classes," he said.

That might not translate into a more inclusive environment.

A CBC Go Public investigation in 2016 revealed an ex-Vancouver firefighter quit the force and filed a Human Rights complaint against the department alleging racial discrimination and harassment from his colleagues.

Listen to the interview with John McKearney on CBC's The Early Edition: