Smoking shed a burning question
MLA says he would not support construction at legislature if presented to him today
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A Yellowknife MLA says if he had his way taxpayers wouldn't have coughed up the $8,700 spent to construct a smoking shed behind the legislative assembly.
Yellowknife North MLA Cory Vanthuyne is not a fan of this smoking shed on legislative assembly property. Vanthuyne said given the opportunity, he would not have approved the $8,700 in taxpayer's money that was used to build it. - John McFadden/NNSL photo |
Yellowknife North MLA Cory Vanthuyne, who lost his mother to smoking-related cancer, is vehemently opposed to smoking. The decision to construct the shed was made by the board of management of the previous legislative assembly. Vanthuyne, a former smoker, is the only Yellowknife MLA who sits on the existing board.
"As a member of the board of management - if this was presented to me today - I certainly would not be in favour," said Vanthuyne of the shed's construction. "I'd have to give that some thought but maybe it ought to be (torn down)."
Vanthuyne added he has not yet decided whether he will raise the smoking shed issue at the next board of management meeting.
Kam Lake MLA Kieron Testart, who does smoke, acknowledged the shed's construction last year could be seen as controversial considering few other institutions in the city have built shelters where their employees can go smoke.
"These decisions can be controversial and we need to consider how people feel about them before making such decisions," said Testart.
"I would encourage my colleagues with the board of management to consider that as they make decisions throughout the life of the 18th assembly."
Deh Cho MLA Michael Nadli declined to comment when asked whether he thought the smoking shed was appropriate and whether he still smokes.
Speaker Jackson Lafferty, who is responsible for the legislative assembly and is also chair of the board of management, is away on vacation and was unavailable for comment.
Meanwhile, the territory's chief public health officer is reluctant to get involved in the debate over the appropriateness of the smoking shed.
He did say the main reason the NWT stubbornly sits with the second worst tobacco smoking rate in Canada, just behind Nunavut, is because of the disproportionately high number of aboriginal smokers. Dr. Andre Corriveau said roughly twice as many indigenous people smoke in the NWT as non-indigenous people.
"The non-aboriginal smoking rate in the NWT is about 18 per cent - pretty much on par with the rest of Canada," Corriveau said. "The aboriginal rate is about 30 per cent, up to 50 per cent in some communities."
Corriveau said the territorial government's Health and Social Services department is trying new methods to get people to butt out.
"Maybe some of our outreach and promotional efforts have not really spoken to them," said Corriveau. "We need to spend more time looking at how we can make it more relevant in an aboriginal context."
