Oakville Fire Chief receives three prestigious national recognitions

After 25 years of unwavering dedication and leadership in fire service, the Town of Oakville’s Fire Chief Paul Boissonneault was recently recognized with three prestigious national awards for his commitment to fire safety and emergency services. 

Presented by the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs (CAFC), Chief Boissonneault received the following awards:

• King Charles III Coronation Medal: On September 21, 2024, at a ceremony in Montreal, he received the King Charles III Coronation Medal for his significant national and provincial contributions to fire and emergency services. The Coronation Medal commemorates the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III as King of Canada, and recognizes outstanding achievements and significant contribution to various sectors. The CAFC is one of the key community partners responsible for nominating and presenting the award. 
• Career Fire Chief of the Year Award: On September 24, 2024, at a ceremony in Montreal, the CAFC and Fire Underwriters Survey presented him with the award, recognizing his exemplary contributions to ensuring public safety at the local, provincial and national level. 
• Executive Chief Fire Officer designation: At the same event, the CAFC presented him with the Executive Chief Fire Officer designation, underlining his professional conduct, training, education, skills and competencies that position him as an important leader in today’s fire service in the country.

About Chief Boissonneault

For the past two decades, Chief Boissonneault has been a CAFC member and served on the CAFC Board of directors for 10 years in many leadership and advisory roles. He currently serves as Secretary, co-chairs the Leadership Development Committee, and Government Relations Committees. In addition to serving as an elected CAFC member, he also serves the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs as an elected board member and chair of their Large Urban Committee.  

He has championed mental health supports through tri-services agreements for CAFC, Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, Paramedic Chiefs of Canada, and the national labour associations; and at the Mental Health Round Table in 2014 which helped increase programming and national funding for mental wellbeing. He played a pivotal role in the CAFC Strategic Plan review, volunteer firefighter income tax credit, and Answer the Call programs. He was the key spokesperson for the CAFC in critical emergency incident response events, including Lac Mégantic in 2013, Alberta floods in 2013, and Fort McMurray wildfire in 2016. Along with his national role, he has also represented the CAFC at conferences in Australia, Belgium and Ireland.

He joined the Town of Oakville in 2016 as Deputy Fire Chief of Operations, rose to the role of Fire Chief in 2020, now leading a team of 258 fire service professionals. He was instrumental in introducing a new Tiered Response Agreement for Medical Priority Dispatch System implementation in Halton Region and Oakville and has advocated for Simultaneous Notification for faster and more efficient response, which was included in the Provincial budget 2024. He is building an inclusive work culture with the current team and inspiring the next generation of youth through Blaze Fire Academy, while also enhancing the focus on operational readiness, medical training, technical rescue, fire equipment and customer service focus.  

Prior to Oakville, he served as a fire chief for the County of Brant from 2009 to 2016, and fire chief for the Township of Adjala-Tosorontio in Simcoe County from 2004 to 2009.  

Quotes

“On behalf of Council, I congratulate Fire Chief Boissonneault for receiving three esteemed national honours for his unswerving service to the country. Oakville’s strength is its people, and we are proud that our fire and emergency operations are led by a multiple-award winning, high-calibre professional, who is dedicated to deepening community ties, shaping and advancing the role and impact of fire services in the town and across the country.”
- Mayor Rob Burton

“I am filled with profound gratitude to my team and the leadership at Oakville, the CAFC, my peers and policy partners across Ontario and Canada. Their continued trust in my abilities and camaraderie propels me to advance the competencies and culture of the fire services sector. It is a true honour to work alongside esteemed professionals in this field as we strive to make the fire service a more meaningful, attractive and fulfilling duty to protect our communities.”
- Fire Chief Paul Boissonneault