Native firefighters recognized for long service

Page 1

This year marked the ninth time the Ontario First Nations Technical Service Corporation (OFNTSC) held an annual technical conference and trade show, but it was the first time they invited firefighters to join in.

OFNTSC fire safety officer Brian Staats, who co-ordinated the event, said they wanted to include "all three major organizations out there that deal with some kind of technical services."

He said "We've always had ... the Aboriginal Water & Wastewater Association as part of us, and this was the very first time that the Ontario Native Fire Fighters Society actually brought their expertise into our agenda."

OFNTSC held the event to coincide with the Ontario Native Fire Fighters Society's annual conference and the Aboriginal Water & Wastewater Association of Ontario's annual general assembly and training conference.

The collaboration is being called a great success. It was the firefighters 14th conference and the water and wastewater association's 10th.

The OFNTSC conference ran Sept. 27 to 30. The annual banquet and awards ceremony, emceed by OFNTSC executive director Michael Nepinak, was held Sept. 29 in Niagara Falls and included all three organizations.

Staats said a rough approximation of the number of attendees were 86 delegates for the Ontario Native Fire Fighters Society, 92 for the Aboriginal Water & Wastewater Association, and more than 230 for OFNTSC.

"Everybody has their own, we call them 'track training.' The fire fighters as well as the Aboriginal Water & Wastewater Association come to our plenary session, the opening address and everything else like that, then they break off into their own conference," said Staats.

"We all joined back up on Wednesday for the trade show, as well as the banquet."

The Ontario Native Fire Fighters Society, which organized the firefighters' conference, conducted its own awards presentations.

Twenty-three men received the Governor General of Canada Fire Services Exemplary Service Medal award at the banquet.

Tom Littlechild, president of the National Aboriginal Firefighters Association and fire protection manager for Siksika Nation Fire Department in Alberta was on hand to present the firefighters with their medals.

Medal recipients from Akwesasne First Nation were Frank Lacerenza, Ivan Ransom, Dennis Phillips, Richard Phillips, Robert Lazore, Charlie Jacobs, Merlin McDonald, Richard Sunday, Cecil Ransom, James Sunday, Norman Peters, John Lazore and Jerome McDonald.

Allan J. Manitowabi and Richard C. Monague from Christian Island First Nation received the award, as did Cecil E. Issac from Walpole Island First Nation.

Recipients from Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation were Patrick C. Jamieson, David A. Martin, Jonas Hill, Frank G. Jamieson, Howard VanEvery, Randall E. Thomas and Barry D. Hill.

Littlechild said about the awards ceremony, "I would have to give hats off to the Ontario Native Fire Fighters Society for starting that. They started it about three years ago. Best of my knowledge no one across the country has actually done it as a whole, to bring all the First Nation award recipients (from one province) together at one night to get their actual awards.

"I'm hoping to get it going here in Alberta as well."

Staats explained one reason the Ontario Native Fire Fighters Society joined the OFNTSC conference, instead of running it totally separate as in past years.

"This year, one of their big things that they wanted to do is to promote or to show the general public in Ontario First Nations country that the medals that were going to be received for exemplary services was a pretty prestigious medal to obtain.

"You had to have 20 years of service with a volunteer fire department," he said, and some firefighters have substantially more.

The award is from the Governor General of Canada, but Ontario Native Fire Fighters distributes the medals.

Staats explained, "Until three years ago, the Ontario Firs Nation firefighters were not totally clear on how to obtain exemplary service medals," and few First Nations firefighters had received awards.

"The Ontario ... society took it upon themselves to go back to the Governor General of Canada awards people and try and push for First Nations to receive the medals."

Staats said the usual route is for the office of the provincial fire marshall "scrutineer group" to go through the awards applications and check back with band councils or First Nation fire departments to find out if nominees had the correct number of years of service and to collect documentation.

"But what happened is that the Ontario Native Fire Fighters Society entered into an agreement with the office of the fire marshall in Ontario (to) manage the program for First Nation firefighters.

"The First Nation firefighters were still eligible to go through the office of the fire marshall if they wished.

But to remove some of the stumbling blocks the Ontario Native Firefighters took it upon themselves to go and start to manage or facilitate this program."

That has resulted in more recognition for Native firefighters.

"Two years ago, in Thunder Bay, there was a ceremony for ... 12 individuals, and for this ceremony in 2004 at the Hilton Niagara Falls, they had 24," Brian Staats said.

The process involves submitting information to Ontario Native Fire Fighters Society president Eugene McPherson's office. McPherson goes through the applications and contacts each firefighter's First Nation to verify the information before forwarding it to the office of the fire marshall, according to Staats. That office likewise reviews the applications and then checks with the Governor General's office to make sure each nominee has not previously received a medal, as it is a one-time honour. When it is determined that everything is in order, the Governor General's office contacts the Ontario Native Fire Fighters Society and "tells them who is and who is not elgible for the award," Staats said, adding it usually takes five or six months to complete this process. At that point the Governor General's office mails the medals to the Ontario Native Fire Fighters Society to be held for the ceremony.

The firefighters were still talking about the national firefighters competition held Sept. 18. Norway House First Nation of Manitoba won and Wikwemikong Unceded First Nation which had won the Ontario provincials came second. Wikwemikong's fire chief Bernie Brant attended the OFNTSC conference.

Another of the highlights at the banquet was the presentation of two OFNTSC science and technology awards to a student from Northern Ontario and a student from the south.

The awards encourage Native people to participate in those fields of study, and recognize the time, dedication and sacrifice necessary to graduate.

The students honoured this year were Leslie Papineau from Akwesasne, who is studying architecture at Carlton University, and Sydney Mamakwa from Wunnumin Lake, who is studying civil engineering technology at Confederation College.

OFNTSC is headquartered at the New Credit First Nation in Mississauga and has service centres in Toronto and Thunder Bay. This year the Toronto office put on the conference, next year Thunder Bay will take it on.