Ontario says it's working on program addressing forest firefighter smoke exposure fears, but union has doubts
CBC
A manager with Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNR) says work is underway to develop a formal program that addresses a joint health and safety committee's concerns over forest firefighters' exposure to smoke, but a union head remains doubtful.
MNR general manager Stephanie Maragna was responding to a recommendation filed in January by the committee, which asked the province to do more to inform, educate and protect forest firefighters against toxin exposure.
CBC has obtained a copy of Maragna's response — that there will be a "formal program to appropriately address the concerns associated with smoke exposure."
She also thanked the committee for raising concerns, but didn't provide details on when the program will be ready or what it will include.
Noah Freedman is a vice-president of Local 703 of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) and a forest fire crew leader with the MNR.
Freedman worries Maragna's response means any changes won't come in time for the next forest fire season.
"I'm by no means hopeful, because if they had something, wouldn't they have given us something more than a few sentences?" he asked.
"All we want is for them to recognize the carcinogenic and toxic properties of forest fire emissions, and educate their workforce about those toxins."
The health, safety and wellness manual the MNR gives to forest firefighters includes these safety practices to help reduce smoke exposure:
Freedman said it's concerning the manual does not refer to medical literature that links firefighting with higher incidences of cancer.
"If the government says try your best to stay upwind, well to what degree am I going to try and make that happen if I don't truly realize how bad the smoke is for me?"
Simon Chateauvert worked as a forest firefighter with the MNR for some 20 years out of the Parry Sound base in northern Ontario.
In 2010, when he was 48, he started having breathing problems and failed the required fitness tests to continue on the job.
"I wasn't planning on retiring from fighting bushfires. The older you get, the more impossible it becomes," he said. "There's no future in forest firefighting."
While his party has made a cause célèbre out of its battle with the Speaker, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has periodically waxed poetic about the House of Commons — suggesting that its green upholstery is meant to symbolize the fields of the English countryside where commoners met centuries ago before the signing of the Magna Carta.