Recognize wildland firefighters
Petitioners ask Canada to correct wildland firefighters' classification in the National Occupational Classification by recognizing them as firefighters and removing federal barriers. The government responds it will review the occupation for 2026 NOC.
Why we would sign this petition
- Correcting the classification would give wildland firefighters formal recognition, helping them access the same workplace protections and benefits as other firefighters.
- Recognition could remove federal administrative barriers tied to pensions and health coverage, improving recruitment, retention and parity for workers who deploy across jurisdictions.
- It aligns occupational coding with the reality that wildland firefighting is dangerous, mobile, and increasingly demanded due to worsening wildfire seasons.
Why we wouldn’t sign this petition
- The government's response indicates the NOC may not determine eligibility for pensions or health coverage, so changing it might not deliver the promised benefits.
- Revising the NOC could be administratively complex and time-consuming, delaying practical fixes that provinces or employers could implement faster.
- Targeted legislative or pension-plan actions at federal or provincial levels might be more effective than a classification change to secure benefits and protections.
The summary and both sets of reasons are AI-generated from the petition and given equal weight. Claims are the petitioners’ own; consult the official record for the full text.
Official petition
Petition to the House of Commons of Canada Whereas: • Wildland/Forest firefighters across Canada perform life-threatening public safety duties, including wildfire suppression, evacuations, and the protection of communities, ecosystems, property and critical infrastructure during increasingly severe wildfire seasons; • Climate change has led to longer, hotter, and more destructive wildfire seasons, placing wildland/forest firefighters at growing risk to their physical and mental health; • Wildland/Forest firefighters routinely deploy across provinces, territories, and internationally to provide emergency response expertise during major wildfire events; • Despite performing the same dangerous work as other firefighters, wildland/forest firefighters are excluded from the firefighter category in the National Occupational Classification, a misclassification that limits their access to recognition, benefits, and protections available to other firefighters and public safety workers; • This recognition has been afforded to wildland/forest firefighters working directly for the federal government, as well as to other firefighters across the country, allowing them to fight for the appropriate workplace protections and benefits they need as firefighters, first responders, and public safety personnel; • In April 2024, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security unanimously supported action to address this inequity, yet no corrective action has been taken. Therefore, we, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to: 1. Immediately correct the misclassification of wildland/forest firefighters in the National Occupational Classification by recognizing them as firefighters. 2. Remove any and all federal barriers that prevent wildland/forest firefighters from being recognized as the firefighters and public safety workers that they are.
Government response
Response by the Minister of Jobs and Families and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario Signed by Annie Koutrakis The Government of Canada recognizes the growing and critical role of Forest/Wildland Firefighters in ensuring public safety in the context of the increasing frequency and severity of wildfires, as well as the need to attract individuals to this occupation. Their skills and commitment are crucial in dealing with the growing threat of wildfires and in ensuring the public safety of Canadians. This is why government representatives have met with unions, employers and workers to better understand the occupation to improve how it is described and classified in the National Occupational Classification. More importantly, a key objective was to understand whether or not the National Occupational Classification had a bearing on the eligibility of forest firefighters to pension accrual and pensionable earnings or health-related benefits and coverage. Since then, the federal government as well as several provinces, including Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, have all implemented legislative changes to extended health coverage to wildland firefighters. With regards to pensions, the Canadian Revenue Agency has confirmed that the National Occupational Classification has no bearing on eligibility of occupations to the public safety occupation provisions and have indicated their availability to review and assess applications to register a pension plan or to amend an existing registered pension plan for wildland firefighters. While these developments have demonstrated that the National Occupational Classification has no bearing on eligibility to health coverage or pension plans for wildland firefighters, the government has committed, via a response tabled in the House of Commons on September 16, 2024, to review the occupation as part of the next revision of the National Occupational Classification, in the context of Census 2026. Changes aiming at improving the details and description of the occupation will be reflected in the 2026 version of the National Occupational Classification which will be released in December 2026. Following the publication of the 2026 version of the National Occupational Classification, additional changes could be considered as part of future versions.