Firefighters’ Human Rights Complaint Clears Hurdle
Monday, November 24, 2003 at 13:42
The Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission has served the provincial government with a complaint launched on behalf of Northern Saskatchewan’s emergency forest firefighters.
Cumberland House resident Lennard Morin launched the complaint earlier this year, after failing to convince the province to boost the wage paid to the firefighters.
The commission has asked the provincial government to respond to the complaint.
It has also asked both parties to decide if they want to settle this through mediation or have the commission do a full investigation of the complaint and potentially offer a binding ruling on the matter.
Morin says he wants the commission to do an investigation of the complaint because he feels that’s the only way northern communities will have a say on this issue through consultation meetings.
He also says an investigation would force the government to deal with the issue of working conditions.
If the matter goes to mediation, it would likely take about 3 months to get resolved. A complaint that goes through the investigation process normally takes between 6 to 12 months to complete.