Smoking police to begin patrols in January

NWHU Press Release

The Medical Officer of Health for the Kenora- Rainy River District, Dr. Pete Sarsfield, has set January 1, 2003 as the date by which all indoor workplaces and public places in the district must be 100% smoke-free.
“Compiling the results of our June 2002 Notice of Health Hazard to the businesses in the district is almost complete,” says Dr. Sarsfield “and the time has come to set “the date” and work towards it with those businesses who are still not 100% smoke-free.”
Jennifer McKibbon, Health Promoter with the Northwestern Health Unit, acknowledges that some businesses will have not
yet received their Notice of Health Hazard because of an incorrect mailing address or as a result of being missed in the first mailing. However she says that the process is ongoing and will continue as the district-wide smoke-free date approaches.
“We mailed out in excess of 2400 Notices in June and received back completed questionnaires from 45% of those, most of which indicated that they were already smoke-free or would be going smoke-free sometime before the end of 2002.” says
McKibbon “ The remainder are assumed to be not smoke-free and will now be required by the Medical Officer of Health to be 100% smoke-free by January 1, 2003”.
Staff will deliver business information packages to as many of the effected businesses as possible. The info package contains the required no-smoking signs and information intended to assist the business in becoming smoke-free.
Businesses who want this assistance immediately can call the Dryden health unit office to have the package mailed to them.
Businesses in communities, such as Ear Falls, where a municipal bylaw requires 100% smoke-free workplaces, will have already met the public health requirement of the Medical Officer of Health. Other municipal 100% smoke-free bylaws implemented prior to the January 1, 2003 deadline will put their local businesses in the enviable position of avoiding the possibility of being ordered smoke-free under the Health Protection and Promotion Act.