What’s in the new tobacco law?

The Tobacco Control Act is intended to:

* reduce the numbers of Nunavummiut who are exposed to environmental tobacco smoke and;
* decrease the number of smokers in the territory by making all public places and workplaces, with some exceptions, smoke-free;
* reduce the sale of tobacco to minors.

The Tobacco Control Act makes it:

* illegal to sell tobacco to anyone under 19 or who appears to be younger than 19 without showing proper ID;
* illegal for clerks who are under 19 to sell tobacco to themselves or fellow employees;
* illegal to sell single cigarettes.

The Tobacco Control Act will also:

* make businesses liable for illegal sales by employees;
* allow the posting of signs on stores that have been convicted of a tobacco sales offence and publish convictions;
* prohibit vending machines.

Fines for non-compliance can go up to:

* $150,000 if tobacco is sold to someone under 19;
* $300,000 if less than 20 cigarettes are sold at a time.

The act specifically tries to control youth smoking by:

* banning smoking around school buildings, and 15 metres around entrances or exits;
* regulating the advertisement or promotion of the use of tobacco, and keeping tobacco out of public view.

The act is part of the Nunavut Tobacco Control Strategy which is specificially targetting youth and pregnant women. Studies show:

* 92 per cent of youth 15 to 19 in Nunavut have smoked;
* 65 per cent smoke regularly;
* and 87 per cent of pregnant Inuit women smoke.

By 2008, the strategy is intended to:

* cut the sale of cigarettes by 50 per cent;
* reduce the number of pregnant women who smoke by 75 per cent;
* reduce the number of youth aged 19 and under who smoke by 50 per cent.