City moves ahead with smoking ban

DENISE RIDEOUT

Iqaluit’s restaurant and coffee shop owners will soon be required by law to ban smoking in their establishments, but bar owners can allow their customers to light up for a while longer.

Iqaluit city council is going ahead with its 100 per cent ban on smoking in all public places that allow regular access to people under 18 years of age.

The city administration is in the process of drafting a no-smoking bylaw for those establishments.

In a survey of 500 Iqaluit residents conducted in August, 84 per cent said restaurants should be smoke-free and 75 per cent believed coffee shops should be smoke-free.

But banning smoking in Iqaluit’s bars is going to take a little more time.

That’s because the city has the authority to ban smoking only in public bars, not in private ones. Iqaluit has three private clubs: the Royal Canadian Legion, the Elks and the Frobisher Bay Racquet Club.

Councillors decided during this week’s session not to create an unfair playing field by banning smoking in some bars and not others.

But this legal snag may change later this year.

Rick Butler, the city’s chief administrative officer, told council that the Nunavut government’s department of justice is looking at changing the legislation regarding private places.

City council then passed a motion to ban smoking in restaurants and cafes, and a second motion to ban smoking in all public places — including bars — once the Nunavut government comes up with legislation allowing the city to do so.

The GN is expected to introduce the new bill in the spring or fall sitting of the legislature.

In the meantime, city council will ask bar owners in Iqaluit to voluntarily become non-smoking establishments.

City council is meeting with bar and restaurant owners on Jan. 23 to get their feedback on the proposed no-smoking bylaw.

But councillor Stu Kennedy didn’t like the idea of council going to restaurant and bar owners after it had made its decisions regarding the smoking ban.

“I don’t like the way we’re approaching this,” Kennedy said.

But Butler pointed out that at a previous meeting with business owners, they asked to be allowed to offer feedback on the proposed bylaw.

Butler said they could do just that at the Jan. 23 meeting.

And bar and restaurant owners know the city is on its way to banning smoking in all public places, one councillor said.

“We’re bringing this forward. It’s going to happen. Get ready, it’s coming,” councillor Glenn Williams said.

“Smoking kills. Second-hand smoke is bad. This is an issue of public health.”

In the smoking survey, 50 per cent of respondents said smoking should be banned in Iqaluit’s bars.