Fire Fighting in Canada

Headlines News
Dress for the Cause this October

Sept. 14, 2015, Simcoe, Ont. - Hot pink, dark pink and dusty rose are some of the colours soon to fill your Facebook and Twitter feeds as October – also known as Breast Cancer Awareness Month – approaches.

Each year firefighters and other emergency responders show their support for breast-cancer research by wearing pink.

The Breast Cancer Society of Canada (BCSC) is once again encouraging firefighters to Dress for the Cause on Friday, Oct. 23. Departments that sign up for the national event will create their own donation pages on BCSC website, and receive participant packages that include a poster, stickers and ribbons.

Wearing pink and hosting pink-themed parties on Oct. 23 is also highly encouraged.

“Many people choose to have a big BBQ, bake sale, head shave, or other fundraising competitions,” Katarina Ovens, communications co-ordinator for BCSC, said in an email.

“If you want to keep it simple,” she said, “dress in pink for the day and donate a couple dollars per person.”

It is a common misconception that just women get breast cancer, Ovens said, but about one per cent of all those diagnosed are men.

According to the International Association of Fire Fighters, nine of 13 Canadian provinces and territories legally recognize that firefighters are at a greater risk of developing certain cancers due to job-related activities.

This is the 18th year BCSC has hosted Dress for the Cause, which has raised more than $7 million. The money funds cancer-research projects at the Regional Cancer Centre in London, Ont., Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital, the Michael Smith Foundation in Vancouver and the Canadian Institute for Health Research in Ottawa.

Each year the society gives $5,000 to a charity chosen by the team that raises the most.


Read the eight most frequently asked questions about breast cancer and Dress for the Cause.

See our growing gallery of Canadian firefighters wearing pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month!




September 14, 2015 
By Maria Church


Former Georgina

Print this page

Advertisement

Stories continue below