Government & Medicine

Where there's smoke there's ire

Nunavut's tough new anti-smoking laws leave two-thirds of the population out in the cold

By Jane George

On May 1, smoking became that much harder in Nunavut as new, tougher anti-smoking regulations from the Workmen's Compensation Board (WCB) came into effect in the territory.

The Environmental Tobacco Smoke Work Site Regulations, adopted last November, mean that as of May 1 no one can smoke in or even near an enclosed work site. The rules are far-reaching as they cover all places where people work, including office buildings, businesses, bars or restaurants.

Smokers must now steal a puff at least three metres away from their workplace and stick to special smoking areas. To Canadians who've been dealing with tough anti-smoking bylaws for years, this doesn't exactly seem radical. But considering the number of Nunavummiut who smoke, you can see how it might create an outcry.

Dr Jim Talbot, the chief medical officer for Nunavut, applauds the WCB initiative. "It's another good incentive," he says. He hopes workers will be encouraged to kick the habit if they find it's tougher to smoke at work.

Nearly two-thirds of adults in Nunavut smoke, according to a survey conducted in 1996. Among Inuit, the rate of smoking is even greater. At 70% the rate of addiction is more than two-and-a-half times the Canadian average. Nearly all of them start while they're in their teens.

The high smoking rate takes a heavy toll on healthcare. Fatal lung cancer caused by smoking is three times more prevalent among Inuit men and five times higher among Inuit women than the Canadian population as a whole. Overall, Nunavut has more new cases of lung cancer per year, more potential years of life lost and higher mortality rates than the rest of Canada. The territory hopes the new regulations will affect health costs. However, Bernie Blais, deputy health minister for Nunavut, says it could take 10 years before there's any noticeable difference.

Hot on the heels of the WCB legislation is Nunavut's Tobacco Control Act that will regulate the sale of tobacco to those over 19, clamp down on advertising and restrict smoking in public places. Also passed last fall, it comes into effect on May 31.

The attachment to smoking among Inuit � who comprise 85% of Nunavut's population � can be partly explained by history. European traders and whalers introduced tobacco to the north and Hudson Bay merchants and priests promoted its use. Inuit embraced tobacco as part of their culture, unaware of the damage it could cause until recently.

Some think another contributing factor is traditional Inuit naming customs. Inuit children are named in honour of a sauniq (Inuktitut for namesake), and the child is expected to emulate them.

"If my namesake smoked a lot in his lifetime, then my mother or my father would have given me some tobacco when I was a kid, indicating that my namesake smoked a lot. I would be taught to smoke tobacco at a very early age," says Nunavut Commissioner's Peter Irniq � himself a former smoker. "As people were being brought up in my time, you used to see little kids smoking right in the amautik [parka pouch], maybe two or three years old, in Repulse Bay."