A gap in the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act led to the resignation of two volunteer firefighters in Wellesley this week when it was determined that so-called “double-hatter” firefighters may lose benefits.
![Wellesley Township fire chief Andrew Lillico worries that gaps in the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act could deprive the township of trained and experienced professional firefighters. [File Photo]](https://www.observerxtra.com/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/post_doublehatter.jpg)
Full-time and volunteer firefighters are able to make insurance claims on certain cancers determined as occupational diseases, but under Section 94 of the Act, full-time firefighters in the cities who volunteer part-time in the townships will receive benefits from where they fought their last fire.
While a firefighter in one of Waterloo Region’s cities earns a full-time wage, volunteers in the townships earn around $3,000 annually, based on an on-call fee and pay-for-service hourly wage. While the act does not contain a specific rule for double-hatters, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board recently ruled that a Waterloo double-hatter would receive reduced compensation from a township.
Andrew Lillico, fire chief for Wellesley Township, says the act does not allow for enough nuance.
“Cancer may have been obtained over the course of a career, or for one specific incident, but the WSIB is not analyzing what type of incident the last fire was. It could have been a grassfire; the individual might not have been involved in suppression activities; maybe they were an incident commander and didn’t take any smoke in.”
Eight of Wellesley’s 69 volunteer firefighters are double hatters, of which two have tendered their resignations. Lillico worries that the act in its present form could deprive the township of trained and experienced professional firefighters.
“Obviously we would like to keep our valuable staff,” he said. “They can be a valuable asset. They bring great experience and knowledge with them as full-time firefighters.”
In Woolwich, 11 of the department’s 156 firefighters are double-hatters, although chief Rick Pederson said Wednesday that he has not received any resignations.
The rural fire departments are actively challenging the act. Lillico said that Wellesley has been in contact with the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs to petition the Ministry of Labour. The department has also been working with Kitchener-Conestoga MPP Michael Harris, who raised the issue during question period at Queen’s Park on Tuesday. He held a roundtable for firefighters to discuss the issue in Wellesley Friday.
“This is now a major issue for me,” said Harris in an interview. “And the fix is at the province, under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, period.”
Harris added, “At the end of the day, these are guys that have made the decision, as full-time firefighters, to serve their local community as a volunteer firefighter. You know what? We need to make sure that there’s fairness in the system, and that a full-time firefighter who’s going over and beyond the call of duty in terms of working as a firefighter that wants to contribute to their local rural municipality fire station, that they’re not disenfranchised for doing so.”
