Ontario NDP joined OPSEU’s Wildland Firefighters to call for stronger rights and safety measures

QUEEN’S PARK – Ontario NDP MPPs Lise Vaugeois (Thunder Bay – Superior North) and Guy Bourgouin (Mushkegowuk – James Bay) were joined by OPSEU and Ontario’s Wildland Firefighters to demand answers from the government Bill 190’s failure to consider the rights and safety of Ontario’s Wildland Firefighters.

“Without personal protective equipment, wildland firefighters face life-threatening toxins 16 hours a day for six months, even sleeping in carcinogen-laden uniforms,” said Vaugeouis. “The Minister claims to have counted work seasons as full years of service for presumptive cancer coverage, but this is not what we saw in the latest Working for Workers legislation. Action is long overdue, and the government needs to bring forward actual legislation that respects and protects wildland firefighters, and not just empty words.”

“The government has ignored the clear solutions that Wildfire Firefighters have proposed to fix this crisis, opting instead for flashy short-term fixes,” added Bourgouin. “It’s time the government listen to the experts and take action to properly support the folks who put their lives at risk protecting Ontario’s forests.”

ADDITIONAL QUOTES:

Noah A. Freedman, Ontario Wildland Firefighter, OPSEU

"This is an all too familiar example of how Ontario’s wildland firefighters, still unclassified as firefighters, are treated like second class first responders." "Last week, the government passed the Working for Workers V Act, which added wildland firefighters to the WSIB’s presumptive coverage for cancers. However, the legislation came with a glaring condition: wildland firefighters have to work double the number of years as municipal firefighters to qualify for cancer coverage." "Our phone calls and emails to the government continue to go unanswered, just like our calls for help."

Mark Belanger, Ontario Wildland Firefighter, OPSEU

"From 2007 to today I personally know of at least 6 fellow fire fighters who have contracted cancers that fit in the presumptive cancer category being discussed today. Sadly, 2 that I know have lost their fight leaving family and friends to mourn their passing." "That wildland fire fighters must double the numbers of years achieve the same coverage as their counterparts, inhaling smoke without any protection, for longer hours and more days on assignments than any other fire service in Ontario, while being isolated from our home and our families is insulting."