Bill 127 explained in plain English
Captain Craig Bowman Act, 2023
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
Bill 127 reduces the employment requirement for firefighters and fire investigators to qualify for workplace insurance coverage for primary-site esophageal cancer from 25 years to 20 years.
This bill amends Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 to change how firefighters and fire investigators can claim insurance benefits for primary-site esophageal cancer. Currently, a firefighter or fire investigator must have worked for at least 25 years to qualify for the presumption that their esophageal cancer is work-related. This bill reduces that requirement to 20 years of employment or service. The change applies to: - Full-time firefighters - Part-time firefighters - Fire investigators - Volunteer firefighters Under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, there is a legal presumption that certain diseases (like esophageal cancer) are occupational diseases for firefighters and fire investigators. This means workers do not have to prove their disease was caused by their job—it is presumed to be work-related. However, they must meet eligibility requirements, including a minimum length of employment. By reducing this requirement from 25 to 20 years, more firefighters and fire investigators may become eligible to claim benefits for esophageal cancer. The bill comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- Amends section 15.1 of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 by adding subsection (4.1) to establish a new eligibility requirement for primary-site esophageal cancer claims by firefighters and fire investigators
- Reduces the minimum length of employment from 25 years to 20 years for full-time firefighters, part-time firefighters, and fire investigators to qualify for the presumption that primary-site esophageal cancer is an occupational disease
- Reduces the minimum length of service from 25 years to 20 years for volunteer firefighters to qualify for the same presumption
- Amends subsection 15.2(1) of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 to clarify that the new presumption applies to workers diagnosed with primary-site esophageal cancer as a result of this bill coming into force
- Establishes the short title of the bill as the Captain Craig Bowman Act, 2023
- Full-time firefighters employed in Ontario
- Part-time firefighters employed in Ontario
- Fire investigators employed in Ontario
- Volunteer firefighters serving in Ontario
- Workers' compensation insurers under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act
- The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB)
- Firefighters and fire investigators with at least 20 years of employment or service (reduced from 25 years) now have the legal presumption that primary-site esophageal cancer is an occupational disease related to their work
- The presumption applies unless the contrary is shown—meaning employers or insurers would have to prove the disease was not work-related
- Workers who meet the 20-year requirement no longer need to prove their esophageal cancer was caused by their job; it is presumed to be work-related
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent (date not specified in the bill text provided)
- The bill text does not specify the exact date Royal Assent was received, so the precise commencement date is not provided
- The bill does not define what 'primary-site esophageal cancer' means; this definition likely exists in the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 or its regulations but is not provided in the bill text
- The bill does not specify whether the 20-year requirement is continuous employment or total accumulated employment
- The bill does not detail how the WSIB will process or review existing claims from workers with 20-24 years of employment who were previously denied
- The financial cost or impact of extending eligibility to more firefighters and fire investigators is not quantified in the bill text
Lowers the minimum employment requirement from 25 years to 20 years for firefighters and fire investigators to qualify for the legal presumption that primary-site esophageal cancer is an occupational disease and therefore eligible for workers' compensation benefits
Source: Section 15.1 and subsection 15.2(1)
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
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Vote Summary
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Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
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