Together with local firefighters, including Local 2890 President Christian Bittrolff, MLAs Robert Hawkins and Kieron Testart announced new legislation today geared at protecting first responders.
At the city’s fire hall, they were joined by Yellowknife city Councillor Garett Cochrane, and Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh MLA Richard Edjericon.
The newly proposed legislation is called the First Responder Workers’ Compensation Amendment Act, which will make it easier for first responders to access health care services and workers’ compensation for conditions that their profession puts them at high risk of. These include Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, cancer and heart disease protections for firefighters.
Bittrolff explained that getting this legislation forward has been a long struggle over many years.
“We’ve been working on it for 10 plus years and five years for the cancer updates.”
Hawkins told True North FM that after Bittrolff spoke with him, together with Testart, they decided “to do something about it, not let just time take its own destiny.”
“Or wait for a government response that we don’t know is actually going to support those kind of changes,” added Testart.
“It is no secret that repeated exposure to stressful and traumatic situations places first responders at an increased risk for post-traumatic stress disorder. In any given week, first responders are exposed to more traumatic, more violent situations than the general public experiences in a lifetime,” Bittrolff said.
Bittrolff pointed out that for firefighters, cancer is the leading cause of duty-related fatalities. “A lot of exposure to heat, toxic smoke, and the byproducts of the fire put firefighters at risk for developing cancer,” he explained.
“There are over 265 known carcinogens in a typical residential structural fire,” said Bittrolff.
Even in the gear designed to protect firefighters on duty, toxic smoke, carcinogens are present.
“To top it off, under heat, through exertion and from the radiant heat of a fire, it actually increases our absorption rate of those chemicals, further putting us at risk for cancers,” explained Bittrolff.
“This bill is finally getting us caught up with the rest of Canada who have for over a decade had this presumptive coverage,” added Bittrolff.
“Our first responders need what’s called an enabling process, and this is the presumptive coverage, a non-prescriptive process,” said Hawkins.
“We need you not to fight the coverage. We need you to know, coverage will be there if you need it and it’s that simple. You don’t want you fighting for the wrong fight,” added Hawkins.
Currently, the N.W.T. and Nunavut remain the only two jurisdictions in the country without “presumptive coverage” for PTST for first responders. Although some cancers are included under presumptive coverage in the current Workers’ Compensation Act, there are nine additional cancers which are not.
The bill proposes “presumptive coverage” for risks associated with the work of first responders, such as cancer and PTSD.
It’s an automatic coverage recognizing that this field comes with forms of risk and we have to ensure that the protection begins today rather than fighting for it after the situation
Hawkins said that the bill is expected to move forward this week. The bill will extend those supports to all first responders, including continuing care assistants, correctional officers, sheriffs, nurses, emergency dispatchers, police, firefighters and paramedics.
Bittrolff has noted that the way things are now, it’s far from automatic that first responders have access to necessary health treatments for conditions their profession makes them high at risk for.
“I can speak to the fact that there is a process that needs to be overcome. And it’s during a time when the person’s already in crisis, and if you know enough about PTSD and everything else, it’s probably not the most organized time in your life to be having those kinds of struggles. Now you’re having to go through the bureaucratic process just to get the coverage, where if it’s presumptive,” explained Bittrolff.
The new legislation would cover treatments for all types of cancers, not just some.
“Rather than pick and choose which cancers we cover through this legislation, we’re just covering all cancer forms. You know we’ve had we’ve seen examples of that in this community of firefighters, unfortunately, who suffer from cancer and weren’t able to find that coverage,” lamented Testart.
MLA Richard Edjericon explained that the new legislation will help support firefighters across the territories.
“This bill will go a long way to help small communities, especially here in the North we have 33 communities,” said Edjericon.
“Fire is fire and it doesn’t discriminate, the risk is the exact same,” emphasized Bittrolff.
Bitroff said that this is the reason why protections are due for all firefighters in all communities.
The MLAs worked with Local 2829 to draft the bill. If passed, the bill will be enacted on October 27.
