Dishwashing incident led to harassment investigation at Barrhaven Fire Station

By Barrhaven Independent Staff

An investigation into an incident that happened at Station 47, located beside the Minto Rec Centre, has brought into question the culture at Ottawa Fire Services.

The incident being investigate is alleged to have happened Sept. 14.

CBC reported that a dishwashing competition led to the incident. A nonbinary rookie firefighter was choked by another firefighter. According to internal investigation reports obtained by CBC, the rookie firefighter was ushered into a supply closet and then discouraged by their supervisor from reporting the incident. CBC also indicated in their story that witnesses who were interviewed also expressed concern about possible repercussions for providing evidence.

The non-binary firefighter reported the incident to the Ottawa Police Sept. 20.

The internal documents obtained by CBC were written by Deputy Chief Dave Matschke. CBC reported that, according to Matschke’s report, the rookie and the other firefighter started by mutually shoving each other consensually, but that the respondent’s one-handed choking of the rookie went far beyond what was normal during the chore of washing dishes.

On the day of the incident, the complainant told their supervisor they were hurt and asked to go to the hospital. CBC reported that the report written by Matschke, the supervisor allegedly said: “You are fine and won’t be going to hospital. You are breathing. You can move. The best thing for your career as a firefighter is to get on the truck and we are going to go out for [two hours] to residents and check smoke detectors for the door-todoor program.”

According to the report obtained by CBC, the rookie said the supervisor placed a chair in a supply closet under a set of stairs in the truck bay later that day, told them to go in and calm down, slammed the door, turned off the lights, and said, among other things: “This has nothing to do with you being who you are. This was just a dish fight that got out of hand. You’re not the first person to be choked out, many firefighters before have been strangled. I have been choked out at work and that is something that happens, and you can get over it. Many firefighters have got into huge fights and broken things. No one reports on one another. You will not go and report this, this is a family, and we work it out in station. HR will blow it out of proportion, you don’t want that happening to your name and having others holding it against you or coming after you for the rest of your career and I will not have this on my time.”

Matschke’s report also stated, according to CBC, that non-binary rookie alleged being harassed about their gender identification, personality and appearance leading up to Sept. 14. Some of the comments allegedly made include:

- “My sister is a lesbian and that makes sense to me, because she is a female and so are you, you’re a lesbian and this whole thing [nonbinary queer] makes no sense. It is only something that has recently become popular, it was not even a thing a couple years ago.”

- “Guys on the floor don’t understand the ‘they/ them’ why can’t you be called she/her?”

- “Guys on the floor hate you because of who you are. No matter what, you look the way you look, and until that changes that’s going to be a problem for you.”

- “You need to change who you are.”

- “You’re getting off easy at this station, other stations would have their way with you, and you wouldn’t last.”

- “I’m getting so sick of you.”

CBC reported that Matschke wrote that he found that the comments were either “taken out of context, or … did not occur based upon witness testimonies,” and were therefore unsubstantiated. They added that no staff stationed with the firefighter and the complainant witnessed the alleged comments on any shifts between Aug. 1 and Sept. 14.

Eric Einagel and supervisor Capt. Greg Wright are each facing criminal charges laid by Ottawa police in connection with the incident happened on Sept. 14, 2022. Einagel was eventually terminated from his position with the fire department. Wright is facing a three-day suspension without pay.

The firefighters’ union has filed a grievance about Einagel’s firing and Wright’s suspension.