Blood Tribe firefighters file for unionization

Earlier this week, the Alberta Labour Relations Board published their latest new applications report for June 2025. In it was an application for union certification.

The International Association of Fire Fighters filed the application on 19 June 2025 on behalf of all firefighters employed by the Blood Tribe Department of Health Inc.

The employer oversees the delivery of health services for the Kanai Nation, located in southwestern Alberta. The Kainai Nation administers the largest First Nations reserve in Canada.

According to the application, the IAFF is trying to create a bargaining unit of nearly 60 firefighters. They had previously been represented by Local 987 of the Teamsters, but that relationship dissolved sometime after their collective agreement expired in 2018. At the time, there were about two dozen total workers (not just firefighters) covered by the agreement.

If these workers do succeed in unionizing, they would be only the second health department worker group to unionize. Kainai Nation nurses are unionized with the United Nurses of Alberta.

To file for unionization in Alberta, unions must show that a potential bargaining unit has support from 40% of the workers in that unit. In this case, that would be 24 firefighters.

Assuming all 24 of them follow through in their support, they would need to convince just 6 more of their fellow workers to vote in favour of unionizing to win.

However, before the ALRB holds the certification vote, they will hold a hearing, which they’ve scheduled for 7 July. During this hearing, the Blood Tribe Department of Health will have a chance to give arguments, if any, as to why they think these workers shouldn’t unionize with IAFF.

If the ALRB approves the application and holds the vote—and the firefighters vote in favour of unionizing—the next step for those workers would be to strike up a bargaining committee to begin negotiation a collective agreement.

Because the ALRB doesn’t archive their new applications reports, I’ve included a copy of this week’s report below for your convenience.