In 2004, North American firefighters’ union IAFF published a list of ‘presumptive laws’ in Canadian provinces approving workers’ compensation for firefighters’ cancers. The report noted: “This document you are reading is designed to illustrate what a number of Canadian provinces have done or are doing in recognition of cancer as an occupational disease among fire fighters; to show the proliferation of presumptive cancer legislation across Canada and highlight some of the research that has led to these legislative advances. Ultimately, it’s only fair that fire fighters and their survivors are compensated for cancers that they suffer as a direct result of their occupation. And that’s why presumptive cancer legislation for fire fighters is… “an Act of fairness.”

Presumptive Cancer Legislation for Professional Fire Fighters: An Act of fairness, IAFF, September 2004.