Ontario Government Increases Cancer Coverage for Firefighters

Premier Kathleen Wynne announced today that Ontario is extending workplace protection for firefighters.

The province will help firefighters and their families get the support and care they need by adding six cancers to the list of those presumed to be related to their work.

These changes will make it easier for firefighters to qualify for benefits by reversing the burden of proof for those seeking coverage under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act.

The extension of presumptive status for the six additional cancers will be retroactive to January 1, 1960, and apply to full-time, part-time and volunteer firefighters and fire investigators.

Extending coverage for the province’s firefighters is part of the government’s plan to protect those who keep Ontario safe each and every day.

QUICK FACTS

• Breast cancer, multiple myeloma and testicular cancer will be added to the list immediately. Prostate cancer, lung cancer and skin cancer will be phased in by 2017.
• In 2007, the Ontario government added eight cancers to the presumed list of diseases that are work-related: brain cancer, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, colorectal cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, certain types of leukemia, esophageal cancer and ureter cancer. That helped make Ontario one of the leaders in this area.
• This new regulation makes Ontario a leader once again and Ontario’s firefighters among the best protected in the country.
• There are approximately 450 fire departments in Ontario, made up of about 11,000 full-time firefighters, 19,000 volunteer firefighters and 200 part-time firefighters.