Rankin Inlet (June 23/03) - Businesses, especially those in the hospitality industry, say a WCB smoking ban will affect business, but there's nothing they can do about it.

Bryan Czar is the manager of the Wild Wolf Cafe in Rankin Inlet. He said the proposed regulation banning smoking in the workplace will hurt his business. - Chris Puglia/NNSL photo

"Naturally, it affects your business," said Bryan Czar, manager of the Wild Wolf Cafe in Rankin Inlet.

He went through the same ordeal in British Columbia when the province introduced its non-smoking regulation. He managed a restaurant and bar there.

Czar said he's never heard any of his staff complain about smoking in the cafe. He said the Wild Wolf has a fresh air exchange system that filters the smoke.

"Alcohol is just as bad -- but you don't hear them banning it," he said.

When the regulation comes into place he'll have to comply. Czar said with the penalty being a fine, he has no choice.

The president of the Royal Canadian Legion in Iqaluit, Chris Groves, said the same thing.

"We're wearing a hard hat -- once the legislation is approved, there's nothing we can do about it. Some of our members will be happy and some will be upset," he said.

Groves said the Legion will just have to wait for the legislation and that's about it.

"If you're concerned about your health, I guess just don't apply for a job at a bar," he said.

Once the regulation is approved, Nunavut and the NWT will have the country's strongest smoking ban.

Nunavut's capital, Iqaluit, has had a bylaw in place since April 15 prohibiting smoking in all public places except bars.

Doug Lem, owner of the Northern Lights Cafe in Iqaluit, said the bylaw killed business but he believes it will come back.

"For coffee breaks and early mornings we probably lost 80 per cent of our business. I think it will all come back in the fall. It's just a learning curve, that's all," he said.

The Northern Lights Cafe has diversified its menu to attract more customers and that seems to be working. Lem said the WBC regulation will put everyone on the same playing field.

We smoke -- a lot

- Inuit have the highest percentage of smokers, 61 per cent, of any group in Canada.

- 69 per cent of Inuit youth smoke by the time they are teenagers. Inuit youth have one of the highest rates of smoking in Canada, over twice the Canadian average.

- Nunavut has more new cases of lung cancer per year, more potential years of life lost and higher lung cancer mortality rates than the rest of Canada.

- Environmental Tobacco Smoke (combination of exhaled smoke and emissions from burning end of cigarette) contains more than 4,000 chemicals including nicotine, carbon monoxide, ammonia, formaldehyde and arsenic. More than 50 are known carcinogens.

Others are known or suspected mutagens, capable of changing the genetic structure of cells. Many components of ETS are also found in industrial effluents, where they are treated as hazardous waste.