Tears greet compensation law

`It's been a hard battle for many firefighters and their families'

Tears of pain have rolled down Nathan Shaw's face over the loss of his father, a Hamilton firefighter, to cancer.

There have also been tears of frustration fighting the workers' compensation board and trying to prove his father's cancer was caused by a toxic blaze at a plastics plant.

Yesterday, Shaw's eyes watered with tears of joy as he watched the province pass a law that means no other family will suffer as his did.

Changes to provincial labour laws will make it easier for firefighters to get compensation for job-related cancers and heart attacks.

Full-time firefighters with the required years of service will no longer have to prove to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board that they contracted one of eight cancers on the job. It will be presumed to be the case.

Heart attacks suffered by firefighters within 24 hours of fighting a fire will also be presumed to be work-related.

In doing this, Ontario is following British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nova Scotia, which all have similar legislation.

But by making it retroactive to 1960, Ontario is going further than any other jurisdiction in Canada, Labour Minister Steve Peters said.

"I'm speechless. It's been a hard battle for many firefighters and their families across the province," Shaw, 22, said just minutes after the legislation was fast-tracked through to a unanimous vote by agreement of all three parties.

When asked if the new law was a fitting legacy to his father, Bob Shaw, who died of esophageal cancer in 2004, he said: "Without question. For my father and all firefighters who have died after suffering a terrible illness because of their job."

Bob Shaw spent days battling a blaze under black plumes of chemical smoke at Hamilton's Plastimet plant in 1997. It's considered one of Canada's worst industrial fires.

For his family, the pain of watching him die of cancer at 55 was compounded by fighting to get workers' compensation.

"It was a horrific experience and I'm glad it is over, or soon to be," his wife, Jacqueline Shaw, said, referring to the legislation that should mean they will finally get the compensation Bob Shaw was denied while he was alive. The government expects at least 65 cases to be affected by this legislation.

Firefighters put their life on the line to protect Ontarians, so when they get sick the province must be there for them, Premier Dalton McGuinty said.

"Your strength helps you guide people through darkness and smoke into light. Your courage helps you wade into the chaos of an industrial accident and help mothers and fathers get home safe to their kids," McGuinty told firefighters at a Toronto training facility yesterday.

"We want to make it fair so you can use all your time and energy on the most important task at hand should you become ill: to get better, not to engage in a protracted dispute to get compensation," he said.