Extend Workers Compensation To Firefighters. Pleads Son

Nathan Shaw, the son of a Hamilton firefighter who died of cancer consequent to battling a fire in Plastimet has urged lawmakers to extend workers compensation scheme to firefighters as well. Shaw says it's a shame that Ontario does not have a package for industrial diseases.

New Democrat Andrea Horvath has introduced a bill seeking to rectify this glitch. Capt. Bob Shaw, Nathan's father spent four days fighting the Plastimet fire in July 1997. He developed cancer because of this and later died. The Ontario Firefighters Association says that there is a clear link between plastic and cancer since Shaw was healthy enough before the Plastimet tragedy. However, the Ontario province maintains that there is no proof his throat cancer was caused by fire. "Cancer is a horrible disease," Shaw told reporters "The last thing someone fighting cancer needs is another fight."