• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
Injured Workers Online

Injured Workers Online

Working Together for Justice

  • Blog
  • Sign Up
  • About
  • Twitter
Working Together for Justice
  • Workers’ Compensation
    • History
    • Law Reform
    • Workers’ compensation bills
    • Chronic Pain Victory
    • Research and Education
    • Bancroft Institute
    • Meredith Conference: “No-Half Measures”
    • RAACWI
  • Issues
    • Appeals
    • Benefits
    • Experience Rating
    • Funding
    • Mental Health
    • Poverty
    • Return to Work
    • Stigma and surveillance
    • Universal Coverage
  • Community
    • Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups (ONIWG)
    • Workers’ Comp Is a Right campaign
    • Injured Worker Groups
    • IW Speakers School
    • Injured Workers’ Stories
    • Organizing and Action
    • Arts & social justice
  • Events
    • Calendar View
    • RSI Awareness Day
    • Day of Mourning
    • Injured Workers Day
    • Women of Inspiration Vigil
    • Labour Day – a workers’ festival
  • Media
    • Press Releases
    • Fact Sheets
    • Headlines on workers’ compensation
    • Videos
  • Resources
    • Law and Policy Submissions
    • Reports, Articles & Papers
    • Practical guides & booklets
    • IWHP Bulletins
    • Library
    • Find Legal Help
    • Links
Home / Blog / Law Reform / It’s time to act on mental health

It’s time to act on mental health

May 5, 2015

“Paramedics support bill that would give mental health support” / Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Northern Life, May 5, 2015)

CUPE first responders gathered at Queen’s Park to urge passage of Bill 2, an amendment to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act which would recognize post-traumatic stress disorder in emergency responders (including police officers, firefighters and paramedics) for WSIB claims.  The Bill, which passed first reading on July 7, 2014, is the latest in an eight-year struggle by NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo to have PTSD recognized.

In response to her today on whether the  government will act to make PTSD a presumed workplace injury for first responders experiencing this disorder, the Minister of Labour reported they are completing research on how other provinces, notably British Columbia and Alberta, deal with the issue.

In referring to the number of suicides among emergency personnel, the MPP for Parkdale-High Park echoed the recent call by the Tema Conter Memorial Trust for Ottawa to provide increased mental health support for all Canadians, after 44 first responders and military members died by suicide in the past year.

We’re all talking about mental health, but we’re not doing anything about it”  (Vince Savoia, Tema)

 

Filed Under: Law Reform, Mental Health

Copyright © 2025 Injured Workers Online
  • Accessibility
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy

The information in this website is for educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for legal advice. For legal advice, see Find legal help