A smoking bylaw amendment being discussed by Prince George City Council is receiving a mixed reaction.
At last week’s meeting on July 6, Prince George City Council gave the first three readings to a bylaw amendment which would allow smoking and vaping for theatrical, cinematic or other artistic performances, subject to written approval.
According to a staff report presented to City Council at that meeting, the current bylaw prohibits smoking and vaping in all places of public assembly and City-owned facilities without exception.
The report states City Staff have found some municipalities provide exemptions under comparable bylaws, explicitly allowing smoking during theatrical or other artistic performances.
“It undermines decades of smoke-free public places, and the reason for that is to protect, in large part, the public,” said Canadian Cancer Society Senior Policy Analyst Rob Cunningham. “Many people are sensitive to secondhand smoke, and would not be able to attend such events, including people with respiratory conditions, cardiovascular conditions, people with asthma who may have asthma attacks, women who are pregnant or are trying to get pregnant and don’t want to expose the baby to harm through secondhand smoke.”
City staff have said there would be a comprehensive written request needed to move ahead with smoking during an artistic performance. This would include details justifying why the act would be required to further the artistic endeavor, as well as steps to address ventilation, performer safety and notice to attendees. Staff had also mentioned an herb-filled, nicotine-free cigarette or e-cigarettes would likely be used rather than a regular cigarette.
This request would have to be approved by the City of Prince George, the Manager of Bylaw Services, or another delegate from the City with authority to provide the exemption.
However, Cunningham says simply putting up a sign outside is insufficient.
“We need to protect employees, that means the staff of the theatre or other public place, we need to protect the performers, we need to protect the public,” he added. “This proposed exemption would undermine that. There are very few municipalities in B.C., as a percentage of the population that have such an exemption, based on what was in the staff report.”
Cunningham says another thing missing was public consultation.
“This just needs to have a complete public review and consultation,” he said. “We did not hear about it until it was in Prince George media after first, second and third readings were given at that Council meeting.”
“We’re seeing more and more social media representations that smoking is cool again, and that’s a concern because it influences youth,” Cunningham added. “We should not be doing that in our communities, to allow more depictions of smoking when that can be avoided.”
Cunningham adds they are urging City Council to pause consideration of the amendment, until public consultation can be done.
On the other hand, Theatre NorthWest Artistic Producer Marnie Hamagami is welcoming the news.
“Some theatrical performances call for prop cigarettes and prop smoke, and it’s something that up until this point, we haven’t been allowed to do,” Hamagami said. “This would allow us to, in some cases, fulfill the artistic vision of the playwright, and for the director of the piece as they see it.”
She added she feels the Canadian Cancer Society’s concerns are reasonable and responsible.
“I think that we don’t want to get back to a time where there’s lots of smoking inside and we wouldn’t want either our artists or patrons to be in an environment where secondhand smoke became an issue,” she said.
“I think it’s their responsibility to be opposed to it, and I can understand where they’re coming from,” Hamagami continued. “I would hope that we would use such a bylaw in a responsible way that causes minimal damage to anybody.”
Hamagami said the theatre would likely stick to using prop cigarettes or e-cigarettes, but wouldn’t rule out using a real cigarette.
“The prop cigarettes typically don’t have tobacco in them, but they do smoke in the sense that they have a water vapour piece going on with them,” Hamagami said. “There’s also things like e-cigarettes and stuff like that that could be used under this bylaw.”
Prince George City Council is set to meet on Monday, with the agenda set to come out tomorrow (Wednesday).
Prince George City Council’s meeting calendar can be found here.
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