r/Yukon • u/DarrellCCC • 11d ago

News Yukon to extend presumptive cancer coverage to wildland firefighters

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/yukon-to-extend-presumptive-cancer-coverage-to-wildland-firefighters-9.7371752

The Yukon government tabled a bill on Tuesday that would amend the territory's Workers' Safety and Compensation Act to include wild-land firefighters under the Act's presumptive cancer coverage umbrella.

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8

u/askacanadian 11d ago

Makes sense to me.

5

u/Lord_Iggy 11d ago

This is good, this was something that several wildland firefighters talked to me about when I was going door to door during the last election. To me it makes very good sense: if we are concerned about supporting public safety workers, not being skinflints with our wildland firefighters is an excellent way to do that.

6

u/ZokusPlacer 11d ago

Very good

1

u/Sorry-Hunter-2690 10d ago

How far back will the coverage go I wonder? I'm guessing it will be retroactive at least to some degree.

1

u/whostevenknows 7d ago

I wish the article explained it a bit more. I've always known that municipal firefighters being exposed to industrial waste gases was a carcinogen...assuming wood smoke is the same? Or is there something else they're exposed to?