The provincial government made the right decision to add two new types of cancers to the Workers Compensation Board (WCB) list for firefighters last week. It is time for the province to go one step further and extend the same coverage to volunteer firefighters.
As we speak, volunteer firefighters from areas within Sturgeon County are battling an enormous wildfire that has spread from Thorhild County into both Sturgeon and Westlock counties. Yet while full-time firefighters are covered by WCB for specific cancers they contract, that same coverage does not extend to those who volunteer their time and livelihood to help keep smaller communities safe.
The two cancers were added to the list courtesy of a bill passed in the legislature. Esophaegeal and testicular cancer are now eligible for coverage along with brain, colorectal and bladder cancers, leukemia and four other kinds of cancer that have been proven to be more prevalent in firefighters than the rest of the population. Numerous studies have long documented the connection between the kinds of hazards and substances full-time firefighters come into contact with and the correlation with contracting cancer. Firefighters that contract one of the 10 cancers on the WCB list don’t have to prove their job caused it — the link is an automatic given.
But this coverage should extend to firefighters across the entire province, including those who put their lives on the line for little or no pay. Volunteer firefighting departments are the backbones of small communities that cannot afford full-time services. These are men and women of all ages and from all walks of life who respond to many of the same situations full-time firefighters do. While they might not be as busy as their counterparts, volunteers endure the same training, rigours and circumstances. They are the ones that leave the comforts of home, family and career behind when the phone rings in the middle of the night.
MLA George Rogers (Leduc-Beaumont-Devon), who sponsored the original bill for full-time firefighters, said in an interview last week that “at some point in the future” volunteer firefighters will also be included for coverage, but it was more of a musing or reassurance than an actual statement of policy. It should be a given that any worker, regardless of profession, that contracts any kind of illness or disease because of the hazards in which they work should not have to worry about who is going to pay the medical bills. The WCB exists for that reason.
Furthermore, with increasing numbers of women joining both the full-time and volunteer ranks, specific female cancers will have to be debated for coverage under the same guidelines. If male firefighters are at a higher risk of testicular cancers because of the job, it stands to reason that certain hazards might influence development of breast or ovarian cancers. There has been little research in this area, but some firefighting documents geared specifically to females point out the presence of common carcinogens linked to breast cancer that they are likely to encounter on the job.
Progress means always moving forward. Now that the WCB’s list has been updated, it is time to explore coverage for volunteer firefighters and enhanced coverage for women who take up the profession. Coverage should be inclusive instead of leaving others out because of overly rigorous policy. Let’s not pat ourselves on the back for too long — there is still more work to do.
