Youth Proposed Outdoor Smoking Ban
Finding young people at a public meeting isn’t the first thing you’d expect on a Wednesday afternoon. Many, however, had personal reasons to weigh in about Lambton County’s proposed smoke-free public outdoor spaces bylaw. Lambton County’s Community Health Services Department is holding public consultations to gauge public opinion about a smoking ban for municipally owned and operated spaces, such as playgrounds, beaches and outside arenas.
Danica Sommer, 18, spoke about her father who smoked and tried to quit at a public consultation held at the Sarnia Arena Wednesday.
“Every time he came to visit us, his beard was yellow and his car was filled with smoke…” she recalled.
Seeing someone smoking — whether a parent, classmate or teacher — can be influential for teens, she said. She has heard of a six-month pregnant teacher who is still chain-smoking outside of a local school.
“Do we really want to expose our kids to that?” she asked the crowd.
Amber Mundy, 18, also spoke about the potential for modelling smokers. She is grateful her parents, who are smokers, never lit up in front of her and her siblings. However, has to contend with smokers when she visits the playground with her niece.
“In this day and age, there should be some common respect to not smoke near playgrounds,” she said.
The majority of attendees echoed the teens’ sentiments, supporting smoke-free public outdoor spaces according to an electronic survey conducted at the session. That mirrors previous public opinion studies conducted by the Community Health Services Department and York University’s Institute for Social Research.
More than half of 817 polled Lambton residents support a ban for all public outdoor areas, according to the Rapid Risk Factor Surveillance System. More than 87% supported a non-smoking bylaw for both doorways to public places and workplaces.
Helen Cole, Lambton County manager of the Canadian Cancer Society, spoke passionately about the proposed bylaw Wednesday.
“Today I’m here to emphasize the need for smoke-free outdoor spaces in Sarnia-Lambton,” she told the crowd.
Cancer is the leading cause of death in Canada, she noted. In 2010, 28,200 Ontarians died from cancer and another 65,100 were diagnosed. More than two million Ontarians still smoke.
The Community Health Services Department held another public consultation at the Sarnia Arena Wednesday night. It will hold its final session at the Grand Bend Community Health Centre at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
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