Canada: end of the smoking zone

Capital Health, one of Canada’s largest integrated health authorities, recently closed the doors on the last of its smoking rooms. Its new policy protects all staff, patients, visitors and volunteers against exposure to secondhand smoke, and also prohibits smoking in homes while receiving care. However, it goes one step further by banning all smoking on outdoor property, including smoking within vehicles and parking areas. Perhaps the most striking achievement of all is that psychiatric and other sensitive units have been included, a sticking point still preventing full smoke-free policies in many other parts of the world.

The impetus for tobacco policy reform was multi-pronged and included compliance with civic bylaws and federal tobacco and customs acts, complaints of exposure to secondhand smoke, and fatigue in monitoring outdoor smoking areas. Legal opinions were obtained for the changed policy, and the process was carefully planned, communicated, and executed, with …