Nunavik’s new certified firefighters blaze a trail

Tukasie Cookie-Brown and Annie Mary Anowak pose in their bunker gear with certificates showing they completed their Firefighter 1 training — the first women in Nunavik to do so. (PHOTO COURTESY OF T. COOKIE-BROWN)

Annie Mary Anowak and her brother made a pact years ago that they would each volunteer as firefighters in their community of Umiujaq, on Nunavik’s Hudson Bay coast.

Fire has been the cause of major loss and suffering in her family; when Annie Mary was just a teen, her cousin, his wife and their newborn baby died from smoke inhalation when their home caught fire.

So for the past 14 years, Anowak has volunteered with Umiujaq’s on-call fire department, made up of about nine volunteers.

“One time I was on call and we got a call about a fire at my niece’s home,” said Anowak. “Right next door, there was another issue — some guy got beaten up. So we were taking people to from both houses to the nursing station. It was a big challenge.”

In the end, everyone survived, but Anowak, who works in construction by day, had worked straight from 7:00 p.m. until 2:00 a.m.

That’s just a day in the life of one of Nunavik’s volunteer firefighters, who work with limited infrastructure and often double as first responders.

But Anowak is unique among them — she’s one of the only female firefighters in the region, and one of just two women who have recently earned their Firefighter 1 Training, an internationally-recognized certification.

Anowak and Tukasie Cookie-Brown, another volunteer firefighter and first responder from Kuujjuaraapik, received their certification in Puvirnituq last November, after completing 300 hours of training and testing.

Earning their Firefighter 1 required practical training at a facility outside of Montreal last spring, along with hazardous material training in Puvirnituq.

“It felt good, there was a real sense of accomplishment,” said Cookie-Brown, who works full-time as Kuujjuaraapik’s airport maintainer.

Cookie-Brown, 35, joined the local fire department in 2009, inspired by a handful of other female firefighters in her community, including the late Nellie Menarick.

“There are times where it’s quiet for a week, and then other times where you get four or five calls,” she said. “The hardest was a forest fire three or four years ago, where it took the entire weekend to get the fire under control.”

But when she was approached to get certified, Cookie-Brown said she “jumped at the chance.”

“I think this is something that could really help me in the future,” she said.

As part of Nunavik’s Fire Safety Cover Plan, the Kativik Regional Government has been working to certify a full team of 15 firefighters per community.

While the region is still far from that goal, dozens of Nunavimmiut firefighters have achieved the Firefighter 1 certification, with the next training session scheduled for this spring.

“It’s a tough course and it takes a lot of dedication,” said Craig Lingard, coordinator of civil security at the KRG.

Having two certified female firefighters is a good thing for the region, he adds.

“It really just takes away a barrier or a door that people thought was there,” Lingard said. “Anyone can do it, if they’ve got the time and the energy.”

In Umiujaq, Anowak hopes her efforts have made a difference.

“I would like it if there were more women firefighters out there,” she said. “When we go into the school to talk to students, there are girls who come and ask me how I became a firefighter.

“I always tell them it’s a way to help the community, and that they can do it too.”

This is the latest group of Nunavik firefighters to receive their certification; this group is pictured in Blainville, Quebec last summer where firefighters do a portion of their training. (PHOTO COURTESY OF T.COOKIE-BROWN)