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| Photo courtesy of Support the Spaniard's Bay Fire Department Facebook group |
Cory Mahaney lived for firefighting.
You can hear it in his voice when he tells you one of his
many stories. And, after almost 10 years
of volunteer firefighting, he has a great number of stories to tell.
It was Mahaney’s love for firefighting which made it so
difficult for him to hand over his pager this past Tuesday night. Mahaney resigned.
But he was not alone.
This past Tuesday night, Jan. 19, at least 20 members of the 33 members,
including chief Victor Hiscock, as well as town counselor and liaison Sheri Collins, also resigned.
In the wake of the mass resignations, which crippled the
station’s ability to operate effectively, fire stations in neighbouring
communities Bay Robert’s and Upper Island Cove have pledged their assistance in
filling the void.
But, during winter months when the roads are icy and storms
often come unexpectedly, making travel difficult one wonders, is it enough to
depend upon neighbouring stations?
At the heart of the scandal is a series of allegations of
misconduct and sexual harassment made by Brenda Seymour, both a level II
firefighter and a town counsellor.
Seymour, speaking with the CBC earlier this week, claimed
that a brief clip of a pornographic film was shown during an instructional
class.
She spoke of another incident where a fellow firefighter
made a joke about several male firefighters’ masturbating onto one of her
belongs, among other complaints of harassment and misconduct.
At a Nov. 16 council meeting this past year, Seymour called
for the suspension of fire Chief Victor Hiscock.
The motion was defeated.
The mass resignations has left residents of Spaniard’s Bay bewildered, shocked, and
uncertain.
Many in the town have rallied to show their support of the
firefighters.
Kate Davis, the daughter of Randy Davis, assistant chief,
created the Facebook group ‘Support the Spaniard’s Bay Fire Department’ Tuesday
night, at 11:43 pm. At the current time
of writing, the group has 884 members.
“We as a town need to come together and support our loyal
and dedicated members!!” reads the group’s description, written by Davis.
“It’s making me mad and upset that these men (including my
father) are being accused for sexual harassment. I grew up with these men and they are a bunch
of awesome guys who are dedicated to our community, and to see them getting the
bad end of this is horrible,” said Davis via Messenger.
“No one knows how
personally it’s affecting the family members”
On the Facebook page, one finds various shared photos of the
firefighters and their families, comments offering love and support, as well as
memes promoting volunteer firefighting.
Mahaney, one of the firefighter who resigned, has written a
public rebuttal to Seymour’s story. The
write up, which has been submitted to several news outlets and is available on
the Facebook page, states that Seymour is using ‘this porn video issue to her
advantage and making believe she’s being provoked.... trying to convince
council that she should be the next chief...”
“My only concern now is the residents,” said Mahaney via a telephone
interview.
There will be a rally tonight at the Spaniard's Bay town hall.
Seymour could not be reached for comment.
For Seymour’s CBC article, click here : http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/spaniards-bay-brenda-seymour-harassment-1.3409859
For Mahaney’s Compass article, click here: http://www.cbncompass.ca/News/Local/2016-01-20/article-4410444/Former-Spaniards-Bay-firefighter-speaks-after-resignation/1
Consider how it feels to be a victim. This woman was harassed, and gained up on by a group of men like I was. No one said, hey that's not fair, that's not right. Jeremy Hall outright lies and even documents lies. I too have had a bad experience with him as Fire Chief and his team ~ going along with what he says. I have proof and will join the fight for the community if need be.
ReplyDeleteJeremy Hall is a notorious slime bag. A true piece of human garbage.
DeleteActually, the name of the group is "Support the Spaniards Bay Fire Departmet."
ReplyDeleteNo apostrophe and department is spelled wrong.
I am embarrassed by the behaviour of these Canadian men. That they would act so grossly unprofessional (I understand that in these kinds of places people have a more relaxed attitude but their actions...I don't care how small or close your community is), when they are supposed to be brave and noble and examples to the community. If these allegations about your department are false, then an investigation will prove that. To leave your community unprotected as protest is disgusting. Question, do these men make jokes about jizz in front of one another's daughters? Because Seymour is someone's daughter. Do they show pornographic videos after class/tutoring to the daughters of the community? Is that provincial curricula? Seymour, if you're reading this, keep fighting them. You have a right to your community, you ARE right in whistle blowing, and while the wives and daughters of these fool's keep their heads under sand, this fight is progress for generations of young women doing the job that inspires them and not the one gender assigns them.
ReplyDelete