Keyano College Receives Government of Alberta Funding for Local Research into First Responders

Keyano College has received funding through the Government of Alberta’s First Responders' Mental Health grant. The college will use these funds to research first responders who serve in their own community during natural disasters in the Wood Buffalo region. The Wood Buffalo region has been the location of many natural disasters, including a wildfire in 2016 and an ice jam flood in the downtown core in 2020.

The Office of Research and Innovation will lead this study on the unique challenges of local first responders. Researchers will explore how responding to disasters in one's own community affects post-traumatic stress.

The research team is led by Maike Schmieding, Research Chair for Northern Community Sustainability, who emphasizes the importance of locally informed research. “When disasters happen here, it’s often our own friends and neighbours who step in to respond,” said Schmieding. “Local context matters in research. It allows us to better reflect the experiences of those who serve their own communities. Our first responders have unique experiences that deserve to be studied in their own context.” Being located in the provincial North adds to this unique context.

Schmieding is joined by Dr. Jane Barter and Dale Bendfeld for this project. Dr. Barter is a Registered Social Worker and has been a first responder and firefighter herself. Dale Bendfeld has a long history in responding to natural disasters with both the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which include the 1997 Red River Floods, 1998 Ontario/Quebec Ice Storms, 2003 Kelowna Fires, 2013 Calgary Floods, 2016 Horse River Fires, and 2020 Fort McMurray Flood.

This grant is Keyano College’s first research project grant and follows a $750,000 NSERC-funded research program on Human Sustainability in the North in 2024, also led by Schmieding on behalf of the Office of Research and Innovation. For this project, entitled Ground Zero RMWB, all past and current Wood Buffalo residents who have acted in a first responding capacity during local natural disasters in the Wood Buffalo region are invited to take part until January 31st, 2026 in Fort McMurray, with rural hamlets being included at a later stage of the research.

Participants are not required to have held a traditional first responder role, but rather may have acted in a first responder role during natural disasters in the region. “During emergencies, roles are not always clearly defined,” said Maike Schmieding. “We heard many stories of people stepping into first responder roles outside of their usual jobs, and we want to hear from them as well.”

The research team can be reached at ground.zero@keyano.ca.