Smoking rooms on the Island have got to go: Cancer Society

National survey finds some Islanders still exposed to second-hand smoke in public places.

A Statistics Canada report suggesting nearly six per cent of Queens County residents continue to be regularly exposed to second-hand smoke in public places is further proof that designated smoking rooms must be banned, says a local Canadian Cancer Society official.

Dawn Binns was reacting to data contained in the Canadian Community Health Survey — a massive study of the health of Canadians which the federal government conducts every two years.

The survey found that those in the Queen’s health region aged 12 and over who were exposed to second-hand smoke in 2005 decreased from 2003, the last time the survey was conducted.

That survey showed that 12.3 per cent of the local population had second-hand smoke exposure in public places.

In East Prince, the drop was even greater. In that part of the province, only 4.5 per cent said they were regularly exposed to second-hand smoke. That’s down from 17.3 per cent in 2003.

Data from West Prince and Kings County was not available Tuesday.

“I think you are seeing the impact of the steps taken to ban smoking in public places,” Binns said Tuesday after reviewing the data.

“We’re reaping the benefits of many, many years of work.”

But Binns said that work is far from over.

While exposure to second-hand smoke is down, the report also reveals that slightly more than 30 per cent of Queens County residents are still working in places where smoking is not completely restricted.

Binns said that’s why she wants to see designated smoking rooms banned province-wide.

Nine out of 13 provinces and territories have already done it, the exceptions are P.E.I., Alberta, Yukon and British Columbia.

“We were at the head of the pack, we were the first to do something provincewide,” said Binns.

“But now, we need to catch up to the rest. They’ve shown that 100 per cent smoke-free, with no designated smoking rooms, can work and we need to take that step too.”

There are still 67 smoking rooms in Prince Edward Island, mainly in bars, restaurants and workplaces.

Two of those workplaces that have smoking rooms include the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, which has an outdoor smoking building and Hillsborough Hospital.

There are two designated smoking rooms at the Royal Canadian Legion in Charlottetown.

Lorraine Doucette, president of the legion and an ex-smoker herself, said she’d be concerned about the loss of the smoking rooms.

“It would seriously affect our business,” said Doucette, standing outside the third-floor smoking room, a glass-encased room used during banquets and bingo.

“We had one veteran who, when the smoking rooms went in downstairs quite a few years ago, hasn’t come back to the branch since because he can’t smoke. He took that right to heart that they would do that to a veteran.”

But Doucette admits the climate in the smoking rooms is less than healthy.

“You can cut the smoke sometimes,” she said.

In the basement, there is a second smoking room. There are five video lottery machines in the room. Ash trays litter the tables and chairs, one of which was overfilled with ashes and cigarette butts.

A woman, who asked only to be called Sue, was playing the video lottery machines while having a cigarette Tuesday afternoon.

Sue said she doesn’t have a problem with the elimination of the designated smoking room for herself but she doesn’t believe veterans should be banned from smoking in their legions.

Sue’s father served in the Second World War, her grandfather served in the First and Second World Wars.

“They put their lives on the line for us,” she said. “They should be able to decide for themselves if they want to smoke here.”

Nobody from the province could be reached Tuesday to see whether the province is prepared to ban designated smoking rooms.

The Canadian Community Health Survey asked about 133,000 Canadians a variety of questions — ranging from their drinking and smoking habits to their access to health-care service — and those results are used to give governments a snapshot of health-care issues at the national, provincial and local level. The survey was first held in 2001 and the latest results are based on answers given in 2005.

Binns said people only have to look to Heather Crowe, a former Ottawa waitress who never smoked but died of smoking-related lung cancer, to see the dangers of second-hand smoke.

Crowe worked in a smoked-filled diner.

“It just reminds us that we’ve made great strides but I think Prince Edward Island will have to examine our own legislation. At the time it was leading edge, now we need to get back to the front of the pack.”