A free four-day camp aimed at inspiring female and non-binary youth to consider a career in fire services is coming to Caledon for the first time this summer.
Founded in 2019 by Monique Belair, the camp features experts in the field who showcase the many viable and rewarding careers related to firefighting. This could be in fire suppression, investigations, communications, prevention or education.
“I absolutely love bringing Camp Molly to new communities and meeting new people,” said Belair, who has a nearly 40-year career in fire services and is currently working as the fire chief of Kingston, Ont. “We’re very excited about it coming to Caledon.”
Her goal is to ensure no one allows their gender to be the reason they didn’t explore a fire services career.
“We want them to know they can be anything they want to be,” said Belair.
Her inspiration for starting Camp Molly stems from the fact that the field is male-dominated and females are often discouraged from the profession because it is considered a “man’s job.” In 2020, women represented just 5.5 per cent of firefighters in Canada, according to the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs.
“That’s why we do the camp. A lot of young women are still being told by guidance counsellors, by their parents, by peers, that they can’t do it, that they’re not strong enough to do the job,” Belair said.
Belair noted research from the Women’s Foundation that shows a young girl’s self-esteem drops off dramatically between Grades 6 and 10.
In light of this, she said Camp Molly introduces its participants to Belair and other strong female role models, who work in various fields related to fire services, that remain mentors long after the camp concludes.
“Camp Molly doesn’t end on the Sunday when they graduate and get their certificate. I still have girls from 2019 that attended to camp that I’m still in contact with,” Belair noted.
“We’re getting them through next steps of where do they want to go, and we’ve seen lots of success. There are lots of young women who, after Camp Molly, went out and pursued a career in fire services, whether it’s in suppression, communications, prevention.”
A former Camp Molly participant now works as a fire investigator for the Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM). Belair said it was because of her experience at the camp, meeting OFM fire investigators and learning about the work they do.
Camp Molly focuses on having female-led instructors from all of the fields related to fire services, so its participants can envision themselves working in those roles.
“We do encourage men to volunteer at Camp Molly because we also want to demonstrate that there are males in the fire service trying to break down [the stereotype] that men don’t want women in the fire service,” she explained.
“They are phenomenal supporters of Camp Molly that come out, and we like to demonstrate that they can work together in the fire service, and there are men that are looking forward to diversifying the fire service with more women.”
When Camp Molly was started in 2019, Belair was the deputy fire chief in Oakville and ran just one camp in that community with 24 campers. It has steadily grown since then, with Camp Molly running in 10 communities, across Canada, last year.
This year, Camp Molly will again be held in 10 communities, and it is already booked up for 2026, as municipalities across Canada are expressing interest.
“We’re reaching so many pockets across the province, and we go into remote communities – underrepresented ones – and that’s why we have our partnership with the National Indigenous Fire Safety Council, and IFNA (Independent First Nations Alliance). It’s important to us to get in to those Indigenous communities as well and provide this opportunity.”
She added, “We like going into smaller communities because this can also be used as a recruitment option.”
Camp Molly encourages participants who may already be committed to exploring a full-time career in a different field to consider becoming a volunteer firefighter.
“What we’re trying to say to them is, even if you don’t want to do this full time, have you thought about volunteering as a firefighter in your community? You can still pursue other career options and volunteer as a firefighter,” said Belair.
“Last year when we ran the Indigenous [Camp Molly], so many of them went back to their Cree communities and signed up as volunteer firefighters.”
She has seen the same after teaching camps in other communities and is grateful for the program’s success over the last five years.
Camp Molly is a not-for-profit and all its programs are free for female-identifying youth to participate in.
To register for Camp Molly in Caledon, running from Sept. 4 to 7, visit: campmolly.ca/camps/caledon-on