Bruce Grey Owen Sound MPP Bill Murdoch smoking over the fact non natives are buying cheap cigarettes on local first nations communities.
Murdoch says not only are people not paying taxes for these cheap smokes, underage teens also able to purchase the cigarettes without fear of having their I. D. checked at these so called smoke shops.
He says what really makes him angry is the fact the provincial government is allowing this to continue and the local Health Unit won’t do anything about it.
Tobacco Control Manager for the Grey Bruce Health Unit Linda Davies says that is just not the case, as the Health unit has no jurisdiction over what happens on local First Nations.
She says while they enforce the Smoke Free Ontario Act, First Nation communities do not recognize that legislation on their land.
Davies says as governments they are free to set their own rules and regulations.
Davies says the Health Unit has written to the two local First Nations in Grey Bruce suggesting they would be happy to work with them to develop tobacco control issues.
She says the number of young people and adult smokers on First Nations is more than double the rate of the general population and that is a growing conceren among some first nations leaders.
Davies says what further complicates the issue is the cultural nature of tobacco which is considered sacred among First Nations communities.
