Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

INUVIK (Feb 26/99) - The NWT Medical Association has awarded Cafe Gallery owner Rob Cook with a certificate for being the first smoke-free business in Inuvik.

Several other businesses have received the honour elsewhere in the Western Arctic.

"We know that smoking is bad for your health," says Dr. Peter Kuhnert, who has never been a smoker.

"It's just that there are a lot of pressures in our society to keep smoking so maybe this is a way to recognize people who stand out and hopefully people will take notice."

And as Cook was receiving his honour, his cafe was brimming with area folk alternately engaged in excited chatter or more languid conversation over coffee.

"It's bad for your health and it's bad for my health," non-smoking customer Ruth Wright says of cigarettes as she turns a page in her book, Courage to Change.

"People are slowly starting to learn that they shouldn't ask me for a smoke or for a light or I'll start giving them a lecture," she says before laughing.

Wright says she smoked once when she was seven years old but her mother caught her and gave her a spanking with a "skinny willow."

Not being permanently dissuaded, when Wright was 13 years old, her younger sister tried to teach her how to inhale the smoke of a cigarette from a month-old package of Rothman's.

"I darned near died," Wright says.

"I was on the ground rolling around coughing with tears coming out of my eyes. I thought for sure I was going to die. Afterward I'd look at them and say, 'You guys are crazy.' I'm glad I don't smoke. I couldn't afford it if I did."

Cook is approaching six months as the cafe owner and he admits to going through the "roller coaster" ride most new businesses face.

But changing the non-smoking environment was never an option.

"It was always a consideration among the established non-smoking clientele to have a place that was non-smoking so I didn't want to upset that by changing that rule," he says.

"For the staff who work here and myself it's a healthier environment as well."

The place now boasts tastefully-decorated yellow and orange walls while soft music resonates throughout, fostering a welcoming atmosphere.

"If anything I found it takes longer to do the changes than I thought."

Bands and a health-food counter are still on the horizon.