Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I have a question for representatives of the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.
The mandate letter of the Minister of Public Safety states that he must “work … to make our communities safe and increase forest resilience to wildfire, including training 1,000 new community-based firefighters, investing in equipment and other measures to reduce risks from wildfires”.
I recently met with people from a union that represents forest firefighters across Canada. I was told that these firefighters weren't recognized in the same way as regular firefighters, that they didn't have the same benefits or the same type of equipment.
I don't know if you know why forest firefighters aren't recognized in the same way as other firefighters. I was told that it wasn't necessarily a legislative or regulatory change that was needed, and that if we simply amended the National Occupational Classification, that could solve the problem.
Could you tell us more about that?