New fire marshal wants to hear from Nunavut firefighters

After nearly four years as Iqaluit’s fire chief, Stephen McGean is stepping into a new role.

He is now the Nunavut fire marshal, and plans to travel to each community this year to meet local firefighters and hear more about their local operations.

“I want to give them that face time, hear their needs, wants, goals, aspirations, and then see how my office can support and get them to where they would like to be,” he said June 19 in an interview.

The Nunavut Fire Marshal’s Office is responsible for fire prevention, fire safety, and firefighter training across the territory. It conducts fire safety inspections and investigates the cause of fires deemed suspicious.

McGean, 42, was appointed to his new role in February after former fire marshal John McDermott left to join the government of Alberta as a provincial wildfire investigator. As fire marshal, McGean is still based in Iqaluit.

His new uniform is still being tailored, but he’s already making plans for his first year on the job.

McGean said he plans to visit all of the Baffin Island communities to meet with local fire chiefs and municipal officials to get a sense of the local needs. The exact timing of the trip is still in the works, but he hopes it will happen in October.

Originally from Sydney Mines, N.S., McGean has been a firefighter and paramedic for 24 years, including working in the Canadian Armed Forces, in northern Alberta and most recently in Iqaluit.

Santa and Mrs. Claus ride through Iqaluit on a qamutiik at the end of the Santa Claus parade in 2024. (File photo by Jeff Pelletier)

He became the Iqaluit fire chief in August 2021, overseeing the operations of both the ambulance and fire services in the city, which on average receive more than 4,000 calls for assistance each year, he said. He oversaw a staff of approximately 45 including full-time employees and volunteers.

“It was demanding, but very rewarding,” he said.

There were several major fires in the city during McGean’s tenure as Iqaluit fire chief, including one in January that destroyed Building 1088, known as the Noble House.

In March 2024, a fire at a two-storey office building at 157 Nipisa St. destroyed the office of Nunatsiaq News. Two months earlier, in January that year, a fire at a multiplex in Tundra Ridge killed one person and sent five others to hospital.

Along with his fire department duties, McGean and his wife have helped with Santa Claus parades in Iqaluit during the past two years.

“I keep that a very tight secret, but Santa and I are very close friends, and he lets me help him out,” McGean said. He didn’t specify whether the co-operation will continue now that he has a new job.

McGean said he will play more of an administrative role as Nunavut’s fire marshal than what he did at Iqaluit Emergency Services.

“Securing the funds to enhance the fire service now across the whole territory is probably what I’m most excited about,” he said, adding his office will determine what exactly the communities’ needs are and how it can help during his conversations with local fire departments.