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GoFundMe photo<\/p>\n
The death of Winnipeg firefighter Darrel Maynard (seen here with wife Francine and sons Colin and Christian) following a three-year battle with occupational cancer has renewed focus on the risks firefighters face and how those cancers are covered in Manitoba.<\/p>\n
\u201cDarrel was an incredible, incredible person, an incredible firefighter, and really, really special to all of us,\u201d said Nick Kasper, president of UFFW.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur thoughts are first and foremost with his family, his friends and his loved ones as they navigate this devastation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kasper said Maynard\u2019s death has been attributed to his workplace and the union received formal notification this week that his cancer was covered under the presumptive provisions of Manitoba\u2019s Workers\u2019 Compensation Act.<\/p>\n
The act covers 19 types of cancer for eligible firefighters, meaning they generally do not have to establish that their work caused the cancer in order to qualify for workers\u2019 compensation benefits.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile workers are sick and fighting to recover or fighting to survive, or the families are going through the most tragic time, having that presumptive coverage and recognition of cause of death offers support to them during those times,\u201d Kasper said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means they don\u2019t need to be fighting two fights at once and trying to have that coverage provided.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2002, Manitoba became the first province in Canada to introduce presumptive cancer legislation for firefighters.<\/p>\n
However, Kasper says the protections have not kept pace with those in other jurisdictions, pointing to British Columbia, which has 28 presumptive protections, including coverage for 26 types of cancer.<\/p>\n
He also said Manitoba has longer latency-period requirements than other provinces, meaning firefighters may have to have worked for a longer period before certain cancers qualify.<\/p>\n
Occupational cancer is a major issue among Manitoba firefighters. The union\u2019s memorial wall near the Manitoba legislature contains more than 130 names of firefighters who died in the line of duty, Kasper said, with the \u201cvast majority\u201d of those deaths attributed to occupational cancer.<\/p>\n
\u201cCancer is the number one killer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, has classified firefighters\u2019 occupational exposure as carcinogenic to humans, placing it in its Group 1 category.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year the Workers\u2019 Compensation Act is open for amendment and we\u2019re working with our partners and provincial government to reposition ourselves as leaders in Canada,\u201d Kasper said.<\/p>\n
Manitoba Labour and Immigration Minister Malaya Marcelino said the government has met with UFFW to discuss its concerns and suggestions.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur government will do whatever we can to continue to support workers\u2019 safety across our province,\u201d Marcelino said in a statement. \u201cAny Manitoban that puts their life on the line to protect their province deserves that same protection from their government and we are committed to making sure that happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcelino also offered condolences to Maynard\u2019s family, friends and colleagues, calling him \u201ca man who made our province a safer place every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kasper said the union recently brought in the International Association of Fire Fighters\u2019 chief medical officer, Dr. Dan Wu, and Neil McMillan of the association\u2019s medical assistance program to present evidence to the Manitoba government.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re confident in the position and we look forward to doing that work as quickly as possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said firefighters are exposed to products of combustion while fighting fires as well as diesel particulate matter from trucks and tools. He also said some protective equipment contains PFAS, a group of chemicals that has been linked to cancer and other health effects.<\/p>\n
The union is working to reduce firefighters\u2019 exposure to those substances, including advocating internationally for manufacturers to remove PFAS chemicals from protective gear.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou remove one chemical type and perhaps it gets replaced by another,\u201d Kasper said. \u201cWe want to make sure that the equipment we\u2019re getting is safe to be used.\u201d<\/p>\n
UFFW has developed a comprehensive health-screening program that allows members to be screened annually, he said. The program is meant to identify potential diagnoses as early as possible and provide firefighters with faster access to treatment.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
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\u201cThis is a devastating loss. It\u2019s an incredibly hard time for Darrel\u2019s family, his close personal friends and his second family, and that\u2019s his firefighting family,\u201d Kasper said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of honouring his memory is working to ensure that others don\u2019t suffer the same fate and that\u2019s what we\u2019re committed to.\u201d<\/p>\n
A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to support Maynard\u2019s family.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/in-memory-of-darrel-maynard<\/p>\n
zoe.pierce@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg is mourning the loss of Winnipeg firefighter Darrel Maynard while continuing its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":858850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-858849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=858849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/858850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}