After a tumultuous tenure, Jack Burt is no longer with the London Fire Department.
London Professional Fire Fighters Association (LPFFA) president, Jason Timlick, confirmed to Global News on Tuesday, July 7 that Burt is no longer a City of London employee and a city spokesperson confirmed Burt is “no longer employed by the London Fire Department.”
“This morning I got a call from the City of London human resource department to inform me, as president of the London Professional Fire Fighters Association, that assistant deputy fire chief Jack Burt is no longer with the fire department or the Corporation of the City of London,” Timlick said.
“I think everybody’s well aware that many months ago I was in the media speaking about some of my members had put forward complaints under the code of conduct and workplace harassment against Jack Burt and at that time in the media and corporation, I was pushing for the removal of Jack Burt pending the investigation and we were seeking a third party to do that.”
Both CBC London and the London Free Press reported in November 2019 that Burt was off the job pending the results of an investigation into workplace conduct.
Timlick told Global News that “it is my understanding that a third party did conduct an investigation over the last many months” and that “my only guess is that that’s been concluded and the findings have been handed over to the corporation.”
Timlick added that he doesn’t know any details of the third party investigation as they are confidential and he would not divulge any details that he is privy to that are related to his members.
“My number one goal… is always to protect our members so that they have a safe, happy work environment that they can go to every day.”
In March of 2018, the LPFFA voted no confidence in Burt, sources within the fire department told Global News at the time. The vote came just days after a sudden announcement from the City of London that said then-fire chief John Kobarda was retiring from his position, effective immediately.
The non-confidence vote against Burt was reversed in September 2018 amid a spirit of initial optimism after Lori Hamer was officially named fire chief in July 2018.
On a whole, the workplace culture within the City of London and its various departments has been cause for concern for years, and even prompted the city to hire a firm to conduct a broad third-party review of the city’s harassment and discrimination policies.
The results were released in March 2019 and found that 49 per cent of city employee respondents reported they had experienced harassment, discrimination, bullying, intimidation and/or reprisal in the workplace.
Timlick also confirmed that, shortly after the call he received Tuesday morning, chief Lori Hamer sent out an email confirming Burt was no longer with the corporation.
Global News has obtained a copy of that email, pictured below.
In an email to Global News, a spokesperson for the city said: “Jack Burt is no longer employed by the London Fire Department. Our policy is that we don’t provide comment on any personnel matters; as a result, we will not be commenting any further.”
Global News has reached out to Burt but had yet to receive comment by publication time.