Ontario wildland firefighters say new bill offering presumptive cancer care falls short

Wildland firefighters say that a new provincial bill extending health coverage for presumptive cancer care does not go far enough after the government rejected adding in language that clarified that one fire season equals one year of service. 

"The legislation came with a glaring condition," Noah Freedman, wildland firefighter crew leader and Ontario Public Service Employees Union local president, said at a news conference at Queen's Park on Wednesday.

"Wildland firefighters have to work over double the number of years as municipal firefighters to qualify for cancer coverage," he said. "Even though wildland firefighters are exposed to a decade worth of carcinogenic smoke in a single busy fire season, a six-month fire season only counts as a half-year of service under the legislation."

"Therefore, in order to qualify for cancer coverage, which requires 15 years of service, a wildland firefighter would have to work for 30 fire seasons."

Freedman said the union wants to see the legislation amended so a wildfire season counts as a year of service.

"We presented these issues to the government at committee last month, and though they claimed the WSIB (Workplace Safety and Insurance Board) will recognize each fire season as a year of service, they voted against the NDP's amendment to include this wording in the legislation," Freedman said.

In a statement issued later Wednesday, Ontario's Ministries of Natural Resources and Labour, Immigration, Training, and Skills Development, said they're "currently working with the WSIB to clarify that a fire season is equivalent to a year of service."

The statement reads that Bill 190 "passed last week with unanimous support from NDP and Liberals to strengthen supports for our frontline heroes, as the result of our partnership with the firefighting community including OPFFA (the Ontario Professional Fire Fighter Association) and OPSEU."

Meanwhile, Freedman said OPSEU is still pushing the government to reclassify wildland firefighters. They're currently classified as resource technicians, not firefighters, by the province.

That, he said, would allow for better compensation, and help with retention of experienced wildland firefighters.