Nova ScotiaThe union for most Halifax career firefighters is calling for a change in the department’s leadership after it says multiple incidents of harassment and retaliation went unchecked or came from upper management itself.City says union concerns are being reviewed by senior staffHaley Ryan · CBC News · Posted: Sep 17, 2025 7:16 PM EDT | Last Updated: September 17The union for most Halifax career firefighters is calling for a change in the leadership of Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency. (Craig Paisley/CBC)The union for most Halifax career firefighters is calling for a change in the department’s leadership after it says multiple incidents of harassment and retaliation went unchecked or came from upper management itself.The Halifax Professional Fire Fighters association has raised concerns about delayed wildfire training and staffing issues in recent months, and said in a release Tuesday that members have lost faith in Halifax Fire Chief Ken Stuebing and his senior management team.The union said that multiple incidents of racist, misogynistic and homophobic behaviour from managers went unaddressed by the department, and a pattern of retaliation against union members has now emerged.”We believe that there is a subtle, unstated culture of bullying in the office and management of our service,” union president Brendan Meagher said Wednesday.”Firefighters risk their lives for people they don’t know. They deserve to be treated well in the workplace, and we expect that as well, and we’re not going to take it anymore.”Meagher described multiple situations of harassment in recent years that affected members, including one manager who allegedly made an anti-Black comment, showed sexist behaviour and made derogatory comments toward another ethnic group.Brendan Meagher, president of the Halifax Professional Fire Fighters association, speaks at the union office on Sept. 17, 2025. (Daniel Jardine/CBC)Another manager made a “blatantly homophobic remark,” and was responsible for an incident in which two women sitting in chairs were “dumped onto the floor,” Meagher said.When he brought up the incident with the chief in May, Meagher said Stuebing told him “that the person did not deserve to be fired.”Eventually, Meagher said, the municipality’s former chief administrative officer intervened. He said he believes that manager was dismissed, but the union was never given an update about the situation.Citing recent examples of alleged retaliation, Meagher said two union members who testified at an arbitration hearing for a union grievance were written letters of discipline for wearing their uniforms and arriving in a company vehicle.In August, an off-duty firefighter who’s a union executive shared a short video on social media thanking the public for following the union’s Facebook page as he stood in front of a fire truck. Meagher said a deputy chief is now “seeking potential discipline” for that video.Managers have been left to ‘bully and harass,’ says union”It feels to us as if they’re escalating their … I think largely until now, unchecked entitlement to bully and harass people without being held accountable,” Meagher said.The union president said it is “absolutely” time that Stuebing be removed because he is ultimately responsible for the culture of the fire service. But Meagher said some senior managers, including the deputy chiefs, should go as well.CBC asked to speak with Stuebing, but he was not made available.Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency Chief Ken Stuebing. (Dave Laughlin/CBC)Bill Moore, Halifax’s commissioner of public safety, said in a statement Wednesday that the municipality’s acting CAO has asked him to review the union’s concerns raised this week. He said that process is now underway. “As the municipality and the union are currently engaged in the collective bargaining process and this involves personnel-related issues, the municipality will not be providing further comment at this time,” Moore said.The union’s collective agreement ended May 31, 2025. Meagher confirmed bargaining is underway.But he said those negotiations are always a “long process,” and each of the last two agreements took more than a year to complete.”This is in no way a bargaining ploy. The chief is not in bargaining,” Meagher said.Concerns around a toxic workplace culture within Halifax Fire have been raised before. In 2017, Stuebing delivered an apology to female firefighters who had faced decades of discrimination in the service.None of the men involved in the years of harassment were disciplined. Many retired, while others remained at work, the department said at the time.ABOUT THE AUTHORHaley Ryan is the municipal affairs reporter for CBC covering mainland Nova Scotia. Got a story idea? Send an email to haley.ryan@cbc.ca, or reach out on Twitter @hkryan17.
Halifax firefighters’ union calls for new leadership after allegations of racism, retaliation
