Ontario to give wildland firefighters presumptive coverage for cancers, PTSD

Open this photo in gallery:

The Ontario government plans to give wildland firefighters the same treatment as municipal firefighters when they suffer from certain cancers, heart injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder, after complaints for years from those who battle forest fires that they were left without benefits after falling ill.

Labour Minister David Piccini will announce on Monday he is tabling legislation and regulatory changes that would ensure wildland firefighters, investigators and volunteers are given the same presumptive coverage as other firefighters when they submit claims to the province’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board.

Other proposed changes would also make it easier for all firefighters to get coverage for skin cancer, lowering the service time required to qualify for presumptive coverage to 10 years from 15. That change would make Ontario’s requirements the country’s most generous, the province’s Labour Ministry says.

“It’s really important we serve those who serve us,” Mr. Piccini said in an interview. “And they’ve earned it.”

Presumptive coverage means that a firefighter does not need to prove that cancers on a prescribed list, heart problems or PTSD are a result of their work when making a WSIB claim, provided they have served for a certain number of years. Studies have shown that firefighters face higher health risks owing to the inhalation of smoke and exposure to various carcinogens.

Ontario’s proposed changes are similar to recent expansions of presumptive coverage for wildland firefighters in B.C. and in Manitoba. Other provinces offer a patchwork of more limited coverage. In Alberta, the government carved out an exception and allowed some presumptive coverage for wildland firefighters who battled the catastrophic Fort McMurray fire in 2016.

Ontario’s Chief Prevention Officer, Dr. Joel Moody, who advises the Labour Ministry on worker safety, said new research findings last year from the International Agency for Research on Cancer concluded that the work of both kinds of firefighters was equally carcinogenic and convinced him and the minister to change Ontario’s approach. The Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry Graydon Smith, responsible for Ontario’s forest fire response, also asked last year for changes to way wildland firefighters are treated.

Monday’s announcement follows years of advocacy from wildland firefighters and their unions. They say they suffer similar risks of work-related disease as other firefighters and that some have had their WSIB claims denied or have had to fight for years for benefits.

Preparing for wildfire season is a year-round endeavour in Western Canada

Until recently, governments assumed that the outdoor nature of the work meant that wildland firefighters were not exposed to the levels of carcinogens. But new research concludes they also face potential harms, spending days on end in smoky forests and extreme heat while also being exposed to pesticide fumes and other toxic substances. It was only in 2007 that the government started extending presumptive coverage to conventional firefighters.

Asked why it took so long to heed complaints from wildland firefighters and their unions, Mr. Piccini said previous governments also sat on their hands, while he has acted after six months in his current job.

“The previous Liberals had 15 years to do this. They didn’t. We did,” he said.

This year’s wildfire season is already under way. The federal government has warned that 2024 could be worse than last year, when a record number of fires across Canada sent clouds of acrid smoke billowing into major cities, including Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. A mild winter, drought in many places, and a warm forecast for spring and summer are to blame – conditions this year brought about by both the weather cycle known as El Niño and climate change.

Wildland firefighters in Ontario had recently renewed alarms over the risks they face. Earlier this year, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union restated its demand for WSIB presumptive coverage and warned that low pay and high staff turnover were resulting in too few wildland firefighters, even as forest fires multiply.

Union leaders also say wildland firefighters in Ontario are not issued any breathing equipment and are instead advised just to breathe though bandanas soaked in water or to stay upwind from the fire.

Mark Belanger, president of OPSEU Local 713 in Thunder Bay, who has fought forest fires in Ontario since 1988, says he has resorted to buying his own heavy-duty air-filtration mask. He said he can name, off the top of his head, a half-dozen colleagues suffering from cancer – and that the time is long past for Ontario to treat wildland firefighters the same as municipal firefighters.

Asked about the lack of protective equipment, Mr. Piccini said the government was working with firefighters’ groups and Health Canada to look at the right equipment for wildland firefighters, who spend days in remote bush areas and cannot carry the same type of breathing apparatus as their urban counterparts. He said he wanted any decision to be informed by the science and by firefighters themselves.

But Mr. Belanger also says financial changes are needed. Ontario’s wildland firefighting crew leaders are paid about $24,000 a year, for a five-month fire season, he said – too little to attract and retain skilled personnel. He said the province needs a permanent forest fire force instead of relying on seasonal workers who are often students. And he dismissed Ontario’s move this year to offer up to $5,000 extra for firefighters as too little to encourage people to take up the job as more than a summer gig.

Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry said in March it would hire 100 additional permanent staff to help fight forest fires. But the system still relies on hundreds of seasonal workers. Melissa Candelaria, a spokeswoman for the Natural Resources Minister, said so far about 600 have signed up for this fire season, which is within the ministry’s target of 400 to 800 fire rangers.

In addition to inhaling smoke and ingesting clouds of ash, never mind the danger of the fire itself, there are bugs, bears, wolves, no bathrooms or running water or even a change of clothes for days, and total isolation from loved ones, Mr. Belanger said, meaning only a certain kind of person can cope.

“The list goes on and on and you say to yourself: Who in their right bloody mind would do this job?” Mr. Belanger said. “Well, there’s very few of them in the province and if you keep disrespecting them, you won’t have any working for you.”