Omnibus bill would make it easier for Fort McMurray firefighters to get WCB coverage for cancer

A new bill would provide presumptive workers' compensation coverage for firefighters who develop certain cancers after fighting the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire.

Firefighters diagnosed with cancer are often left trying to prove to the Alberta's Workers' Compensation Board (WCB) their disease is related to their work, according to the Alberta Professional Fire Fighters and Paramedics Association.

Brian Jean, the minister of jobs, economy and northern development, said he has been pushing to waive minimum exposure periods so that Fort McMurray firefighters with cancer will receive automatic WCB coverage.

"Any Fort McMurray resident can tell you how devastating this fire was to our homes, our businesses and our communities, and continues to be today," Jean said at a news conference Wednesday, his voice faltering with emotion.

The Opposition NDP made a similar proposal last year.

Jean, the MLA for Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche, thanked the firefighters who flooded to the community to fight the wildfire, which surrounded the city, destroyed about 15 per cent of its structures, and prompted a mass evacuation of 80,000 people.

"Unfortunately, these efforts sometimes came at a great personal price," Jean said.

The proposed change is part of an omnibus bill tabled in the legislature on Wednesday. If passed, Bill 9, the Red Tape Reduction Statutes Amendment Act, 2023, would make changes to 14 pieces of legislation in nine ministries.

Matt Osborne, president of the firefighters' association, said some were exposed to a career's worth of toxins in a couple of weeks while working to contain the Horse River wildfire around Fort McMurray.

Hundreds of buildings containing resins and plastic burned simultaneously, filling the air with hazardous chemicals, he said.

Due to the unprecedented response required, firefighters soon ran out of air canisters, putting some workers at increased risk of exposure, he said. They're also at risk of skin cancer, he said.

"It's extra hard when you're trying to battle cancer as a firefighter, and as a family — as anybody — and then trying to prove a claim that you know is related to this," he said of applying to WCB.

Firefighters need to have been on the job for five years to receive WCB coverage for primary leukemia, according to a fact sheet for workers. But some cancers require 25 years on the job to qualify for presumptive coverage.

Osborne said the family of a firefighter who died from cancer in 2018 after exposure in Fort McMurray is still negotiating with the WCB to receive compensation.

Jean said if the bill passes, the timelines would be waived for municipal and Métis settlement firefighters who responded in Fort McMurray in 2016.

Jean's press secretary, Roy Dallmann, said fewer than 10 firefighters in that category have applied for WCB coverage for cancer, and most were approved. He said it's hard to predict how many people will need coverage in the future.

Trespass legislation

The bill also proposes to amend two pieces of trespass legislation to specify that a federal employee who is on private land without permission, or without legislative authority, would be considered a trespasser.

Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Minister Dale Nally said the acts already apply to federal employees, but Albertans demanded clarity.

"I can tell you that Albertans have communicated to us very clearly that they value property rights and that they were asking for these types of protections," Nally said.

The move follows a similar amendment tabled last year in the Saskatchewan legislature. That province wants to require federal employees to seek landowners' permission before entering their property.

The Saskatchewan government made the move after at least three farmers reported federal employees were conducting water quality tests on their land. Last week, Alberta government officials gave conflicting reports on whether that had also happened in Alberta.

The Canada Water Act says federal inspectors have the power to go onto any private property if they have reasonable grounds to believe waste has been added to the water.

Art, bees and criminals

Other changes proposed in the omnibus bill include:

• Enabling the government to suspend income support payments to violent offenders who are wanted on outstanding warrants. Nally said the regulations would ensure any dependents are not affected.

• Expand the definition of "bee disease" to include pests that threaten the critters; streamlining government responses to outbreaks of bee diseases.

• Giving irrigation districts the power to cut off delivery to people misusing water.

• Allowing legal immunity for art when Alberta borrows an artwork from another jurisdiction.

• After giving themselves a 90-day no-cause exit clause from funding LRT projects, the United Conservative Party government now wants to remove that clause, as finances have improved, Nally said.

Chris Hay, executive director of the John Howard Society of Alberta, said ending income support to people wanted by police could have the unintended effect of driving them to commit other crimes.

"If they're receiving income support and that is the thing stopping them selling drugs again, or breaking into homes and stealing people's property, or mugging people at bus stops — do we really want to stop that just so we can deal with a warrant?"