Dane Gibson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 19/99) - Students at Sir John Franklin are taking a tough stance on smoking.

Sir John student council vice-president, Janet Wong, told Education District No. 1 board trustees on Nov. 9 that they plan to outlaw smoking on school grounds.

"The most apparent reason is that a huge majority of the student body that smokes have not reached the legal age to start smoking," said Wong.

"This is not only wrong, but it is not the type of position that a public institution, like a school, should take."

There is currently a designated smoking area outside of the school. Wong said the City of Yellowknife's recent approval of a bylaw to phase-out smoking means a majority of legal-aged smokers won't be able to light up in public areas. She called the situation "ironic."

"Students in Sir John are permitted to smoke on school grounds, which should be considered a public area. This is totally unacceptable to the school and non-smokers," said Wong.

Wong also pointed out that when students from Grade 9 see older students smoking, they interpret that as a message that "smoking is cool."

Sir John Franklin principal Mieke Cameron said to aid in the effort, GNWT Health and Social Services has committed $5,000 towards the development of a tobacco reduction program for the school.

She said they are using part of the funding to send four students and a teacher to a leadership conference in Edmonton.

Two of the students going are smokers who have expressed a sincere desire to quit, and two are non-smokers. The teacher who is attending the conference, Kerrin Patterson, has been a smoker for 20 years. She, too, has vowed to quit smoking.

The conference is designed to give participants the necessary information and skills needed to reduce smoking in schools.

"There's always been the assumption that more young people smoke than don't, but that's just not the case," said Cameron.

"The fact is that many students are making deliberate choices to live healthier lifestyles."

She said the designated smoking area, located outside of the school, will be eliminated.

"Two years ago, we couldn't interest our student council in this issue. This year, student council picked up on the idea, thought about it, and decided to make it one of their goals," said Cameron.

"For us as a school, we're moving towards having a smoke-free campus for 2000."

Kirk Johnson is a student that has his reservations about the initiative.

"I suppose I support it but I still think it's a person's choice to smoke," said Johnson.

"Besides, they'll do it anyway and if they do it off school grounds, they'll probably be late for class."

Student Megan Thomas disagreed with Johnson. She feels a smoke-free school is a move in the right direction.

"This is a good thing," said Thomas.

"The bottom line is I don't want my friends or fellow students to end up with cancer."