Event celebrates P.E.I.'s women first responders, offering support and inspiration
Stephen Brun | CBC News | Posted: March 8, 2024 1:00 PM | Last Updated: March 8, 2024
Organizer hopes to inspire young women to say, 'I can do that; look what she's doing'
When Karen Morrison launched what would become a 25-year firefighting career in Windsor, Ont., her fire department didn't actually have equipment that would fit her.
Until then, no woman had ever been a professional firefighter anywhere in Canada.
Born and raised in Hampton, P.E.I., Morrison had originally started working as a dispatcher at the department. Before that, she worked in an RCMP drug unit — but that wasn't the type of excitement she wanted.
She said even though many hail her as a trailblazer for first responders, she also faced many challenges along the way.
WATCH | Canada's first female professional firefighter reflects on her trailblazing career:
"The problem when I first started was getting somebody that would work with me on a truck," she told Island Morning host Mitch Cormier. "The guys were still not sure … how it was going to be at a fire scene, was I going to be able to do what had to be done?"
"When I first started they didn't make boots small enough, [or] gloves."
She recounted her fire chief taking her to Detroit, across the Canada-U.S. border, to search for firefighting gear she could wear from another department, "and found some stuff that fit me."
Morrison will be one of the speakers at an event in Milton on Friday evening, which organizers said will celebrate and connect female first responders.
The event, titled "There is a Job For Everyone," marks International Women's Day. But March 8 also marks 50 years since the RCMP allowed women to become officers in 1974.
Things may have come a long way since Morrison first joined the ranks of professional firefighters in 1983 — it took a decade working as a firefighter in Windsor before any other women joined her department — she said there's still a need for more female first responders in P.E.I.
"We're seeing more and more women join the fire service now than we have in the past," said Heather Horne, deputy chief instructor with the P.E.I. Firefighters School. "But there's still not nearly as many women as we'd like to have; the numbers still need to go up,"
"There's a role out there for everyone — and everyone can do this. It's not something that's so intimidating."
'Go ahead and join'
Although there were initial challenges, Morrison said over the years her firefighting crew at the Windsor department became like a family.
And although there were some tasks she couldn't do, her smaller stature turned out to be ideal in situations that needed a first-responder to squeeze into tight places, such as crawl spaces and attics.
Today, Morrison said she's filled with pride when she sees women stepping into firefighting jobs, or in other emergency response services. Her advice to any women considering such a career?
"Go ahead and join," she said. "It was hard, but there's a reason the requirements to get in are hard.
"It's the type of job where you've got to be physically fit ... It was definitely a special time in my life."
Firefighting instructor Horne said events like the one in Milton this International Women's Day are important, because they offer first-responder women a much-needed chance to network with each other, share their struggles, and hopefully inspire others to follow their footsteps into emergency services.
"Whether that's the fire service, RCMP, EMS," she said, "if we can just … empower women (and) men to work to their best abilities, we'll just do so much better.
"We want to bring light to just how many women are stepping up … so that young women maybe will [say],'I can do that; look what she's doing.'"
Friday's event is planned for 7 p.m. at the P.E.I. Firefighters School, located at 68 Miles Boulter Dr. in Milton.