Canadian Lawyer

In 1997, the year after he was called to the bar, Forrest was elected president of the United Firefighters of Winnipeg. With his private law practice and firefighting career, Forrest had his hands full for a while, until he realized one carried more weight for him than the other. After a few years, he gave up his private practice and dedicated his legal skills to the firefighters' union. "Being a union leader today means you have to be very involved in the legal issues, so I can honestly say I have never given up law, I just stopped practising in a private firm," says Forrest. One legal issue he tackled was getting workers' compensation coverage for cancers linked to firefighting — also known as presumptive legislation. Presumptive legislation is a provision under workers' compensation law that decrees certain types of cancer as an occupational disease. As a consequence, a firefighter who develops any of the cancers listed in the legislation would be covered under workers' compensation — even if the disease occurs at a later stage in the firefighter's life. "Too many of our firefighters are dying of occupational cancer and they were not properly being compensated. I wanted to change that," says Forrest, who is also the Canadian trustee for the International Association of Firefighters. In the late 1990s, the firefighters' union noticed a significant number of its members were dying of cancer believed to be linked to their work, recalls Forrest. "Within a two-year period, we had about eight or nine firefighters that had died of specific cancers. And we had known there were some places in the United States that had recognized occupational cancer as part of professional firefighting, but no place in Canada had any legislation." Forrest and the firefighters' union knew something needed to be done. Backed by research and armed with his law degree and field experience, Forrest led the union in taking the cause to the legislature, working to get presumptive legislation passed in Manitoba. In 2002, he landed a major win for firefighters when, for the first time in Canada, certain types of cancer were declared compensable under Manitoba's workers' compensation system. Occupational cancer is covered "in the same way that if a firefighter was going into a building and the floor collapsed, if they were hurt they would be looked after, and if they were subsequently killed because of that action, their families would receive financial compensation," explains Forrest. Getting presumptive legislation passed in Manitoba was only the first step for Forrest and his group of firefighter advocates; for while they may have secured a victory for their brothers and sisters in the province, hundreds in other parts of the country were still not covered. In his national role as Canadian trustee for the IAFF, Forrest went on a mission to get the rest of the provinces on board with presumptive legislation. The political element became one of the biggest challenges, he says. "It's always hard to get any province to be the first [in passing legislation] because basically, politics is a very conservative element. They don't want to be the first because they aren't sure what the repercussions were." Despite the political challenges, fate and science were on the firefighters' side as research around firefighting-related cancers started to increase. These new studies fueled the argument for presumptive legislation. The types of cancer covered under the legislation also increased to 15 from five. It also now covers heart attack if it occurs within 24 hours after an emergency response. Over the last decade, a number of jurisdictions across Canada started adopting presumptive legislation for firefighters. To date, eight provinces and two territories have passed such laws — British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Northwest Territories, and the Yukon — covering 80 per cent of firefighters in Canada. The last couple, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland, are close to passing presumptive legislation, according to Forrest. Recognizing his dedication in this area, in 2012 Forrest was awarded the Queen's Jubilee Medal for his work. Since Canada started embracing presumptive legislation, other countries have begun to take action as well, and Forrest has been a significant part of the process, helping Australia to become the third country in the world to pass the legislation (U.S. and Canada are the first two). Sweden, Finland, and other parts of Europe are also along the road to adopting it. "This whole issue of presumptive legislation is still in its infancy," says Forrest. "There are thousands of firefighters around the world that are dying of occupational cancer and are not fortunate to live in Canada and the United States or Australia. Firefighters are fighting the same fires, dealing with the same cancercausing agents, and are dying, and they are not being recognized by their governments." Forrest had been serving his country long before he became a firefighter. He enlisted with the Canadian Forces when he was 17. Three years later, he was honourably discharged and went back to school at the University of Winnipeg where he gained his BA. He worked briefly at the RCMP before he finally found his true calling at the Winnipeg Fire Department. The discipline that came with serving in the military and the RCMP perhaps helped hone Forrest's skills in dealing with the politics involved in pursuing the firefighters' agenda. "The one thing I have learned is that firefighters have to be politically involved," says Forrest. "They have to be active in the community politically. We can't afford to leave the politics alone because politics doesn't leave firefighters alone. Every decision — in regards to safety, the number of firefighters on the street, our personal protective equipment — comes down to political decisions." His work with presumptive legislation is not over — and takes up a good chunk of his time — but Forrest's other responsibilities with the UFW and the IAFF keep him occupied. Although his work with the IAFF takes him to many great places, Forrest says it is seldom he is able to stop and take in the sights. "There is no better job in the world than helping people. And firefighters, that's all they do in their careers is help others. So, it's nice that we can try and look after firefighters when they need us," he says. www.CANADIAN L a w ye r m a g . c o m June 2013 23

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