WHEREAS the Government of British Columbia has directed the Workers Compensation Board to include the presumption that some cancers are caused by employment as a full-time firefighter; AND WHEREAS most local governments will face increased Workers Compensation Board premiums to pay for cancer presumption whether they employ full-time firefighters or not; AND WHEREAS all firefighters, including volunteer and paid-call, are subject to exposure to cancer-causing environments: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Union of BC Municipalities support the Fire Chiefs Association of BC petition to the Government of the Province of British Columbia to direct the Workers Compensation Board not to discriminate against volunteer andor paid-call firefighters and to include all persons who serve their communities in some capacity as a firefighter to be provided with the protection of the Presumptive Cancer Regulation.
Ministry of Labour Citizens Services Government is pleased to advise that Bill 11, the Workers Compensation Amendment Act, 2005, was amended in the Legislature to include British Columbias volunteer, part-time and paid on-call firefighters. Like their full-time counterparts, all other firefighters will thus benefit from the rebuttable presumption that certain types of cancer are occupational diseases associated with long-term employment as a firefighter. The cancers to be recognized by WorkSafeBC as being linked to firefighting are: - primary site brain cancer; - primary site bladder cancer; - primary site kidney cancer; - primary non-Hodgkins lymphoma; - primary site ureter cancer; - primary site colorectal cancer; and - primary leukemia. The presumption will be retroactive to April 11, 2005.