Shortage of volunteers at ‘crisis’ level, says Oakville fire chief

Oakville Fire Chief Paul Boissonneault says the shortage of volunteers in fire departments across the country is at a “crisis” level.

Boissonneault made the claim speaking at a press conference on Wednesday (June 21) where the NDP and Canadian fire chiefs were urging the federal government to increase the volunteer firefighter tax credit to address a shortage of volunteer firefighters.

The increase would see volunteer firefighters and search and rescue workers receive a raise in their tax credit from $3,000 to $10,000.

The proposal is being supported by the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs (CAFC)

Boissonneault pointed to a census conducted by the CAFC in 2022 that shows there are some 126,000 volunteer firefighters and search and rescue workers in Canada.

Of those, approximately 90,000 are volunteer firefighters. They make up 71 per cent of all firefighters in Canada.

The census reveals that some 15,000 firefighter positions are vacant.

Many remote communities can’t afford to have full-time fire departments and rely on volunteer firefighters.

“A mere seven years ago, that total was almost 30,000 more than what it currently is today,” said Boissonneault. “The impacts, financial challenges, are drastically changing the landscape of our firefighters and the amount of staffing and resourcing that we have.

“I dare say we are in a crisis because trying to maintain, well trained, well prepared and ready to respond firefighters and search and rescue personnel is probably at an all-time biggest challenge right now.”

Many remote communities can’t afford to have full-time fire departments and rely on volunteer firefighters.

“Replacing even a quarter of the volunteer firefighters with full-time career firefighters would cost exponentially more, and many communities could not carry that cost burden,” said Boissonneault.