South African firefighters deployed in Canada finally paid

[caption id="attachment_151135" align="aligncenter" width="500"] BRAVE MISSION: Firefighters from Working on
Fire hard at work in Canada. Picture: Supplied[/caption]

The 300 South African firefighters who were deployed in Canada last month to help fight a massive forest blaze but quit after only one week over a pay dispute have finally been paid‚ according to the Canadian government.

Canadian Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Oneil Carlier said this week that the government had received confirmation from South Africa that the firefighters had been paid in accordance to Canadian labour laws.

They were paid "in the same salary range as Alberta wildland firefighters‚" Carlier said in a statement.

"We are grateful that these women and men came to help us in our time of need. We are pleased to get confirmation that they have been paid in accordance with our province's labour laws‚" Carlier added.

The South African firefighters arrived in Canada amid much fanfare to help fight the massive blaze in Alberta’s Fort McMurray area‚ singing and dancing at the airport. However‚ they downed their hoses and returned home after only one week‚ claiming that they were only being paid C$50 a day for a 12-hour shift‚ while their Canadian counterparts were apparently getting C$21 an hour.

The South African organisation Working on Fire‚ which recruited the firefighters‚ said no one had ever agreed to pay $21 an hour.

At the time‚ Premier Rachel Notley weighed in and said the province had contracted with the agency to pay the firefighters roughly $170 a day. She was disgusted that the agency were pocketing a huge portion and made it her mission to insure that the firefighters got every cent that they had paid‚ according to Canadian media reports.