'The resulting list will make the Yukon a leader with the most comprehensive presumptive coverage in Canada'
This fall, the Yukon is looking to introduce legislation that it claims will be “the most progressive workers’ compensation bill in the country.”
The new Workers’ Safety and Compensation Act will cover a broad array of presumptive cancers --- including thyroid and pancreatic cancer --- for full- and part-time and volunteer firefighters.
“We have met with firefighters and listened to their concerns. I would like to thank them for their patience while we completed a detailed review on the proposed list of cancers that are presumed to be work-related for firefighters,” says Richard Mostyn, minister responsible for the Yukon Workers’ Compensation Health and Safety Board. “The resulting list will make the Yukon a leader with the most comprehensive presumptive coverage for firefighters in Canada.”
Cancer is second in the list of conditions with the most impact on employers’ overall healthcare costs, according to a report released late in 2019.
The new bill will also provide coverage for:
- multiple myeloma
- primary site prostate cancer
- primary site skin cancer
- primary site breast cancer
- primary site cervical cancer
- primary site ovarian cancer
- primary site penile cancer
The current list includes the following cancers:
- primary leukemia
- primary non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
- primary site bladder cancer
- primary site brain cancer
- primary site colorectal cancer
- primary site esophageal cancer
- primary site kidney cancer
- primary site lung cancer
- primary site testicular cancer
- primary site ureter cancer
- any prescribed form of cancer
If passed, the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Act will replace the Workers’ Compensation Act and the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
“Cancer is a chronic disease that needs to be recognized in a healthy workplace strategy and very principled human resource management,” according to Allan Smofsky, managing director of Smofsky Strategic Planning in Oakville, Ont.
