The last time Canadians as a whole smoked as much as people in the
Flin Flon region, Brian Mulroney was prime minister, Rocky had just downed Drago and Miami Vice was the coolest show on the tube.
Northern Health Region data shows that 34.9 per cent of the combined population of Flin Flon,
Snow Lake, Cranberry Portage and Sherridon is lighting up.
One must go back to around 1985 to find a national smoking rate on par with that level. In the ensuing 30 years, both the regional and national rates have declined, but the former remains far above the latter.
According to the latest Statistics Canada figures, 19.3 per cent of Canadians were smokers in 2013 – nearly 50 per cent lower than in the Flin Flon region.
Deanna Johnson, smoking reduction coordinator for the Northern Health Region, says many variables contribute to the higher regional rate.
She says rural areas tend to have higher smoking rates than urban areas. And lower education levels and socioeconomic status can be factors.
Johnson says it can also be difficult to deliver tobacco education and prevention programs across a large geographical area.
“So in order to get those rates down, we need to use a multifaceted approach,” she says.
The last dozen years has seen multiple victories for anti-smoking advocates at the local and provincial levels.
In 2004, Manitoba banned smoking in publicly accessible indoor places. That same year, the province enacted a law requiring retailers to hide tobacco products from public view.
The following year, similar laws were in place in Saskatchewan, which had introduced its tobacco-hiding law years earlier but did not resolve a court challenge until 2005.
In February 2008, the Flin Flon School Division banned smoking on all school property, closing the so-called smoking pit at Hapnot Collegiate.
Johnson was instrumental in the ban, urging the school board of the day to make the move.
“We are really sending the wrong message to our youth if we allow them to continue to smoke at Hapnot,” Johnson told the trustees.
In 2012, the NOR-MAN Regional Health Authority, now part of the Northern Health Region, barred smoking on nearly all of its property.
An exception was the Northern Lights Manor, where elderly residents maintained access to a ventilated smoking room approved by the government.
For her part, Johnson continues to work to prevent people from smoking and to help those who want to quit.
She notes that this March, the Manitoba Lung Association will run its Manitoba Quits campaign, with cash prizes for those who quit tobacco, reduce their consumption or help somebody else quit. Info is available at Manitobaquits.ca.
Johnson says the Canadian Cancer Society website also offers a helpful book to people who want to help someone else quit.
Those who want to quit smoking may contact Johnson without a doctor’s referral at 204-681-3413.
