McGill University is considering a smoking ban after students attended a public consultation in October for a proposal on a smoke-free campus policy.
The policy will be presented to the university board in November, and if it passes, the university could ban smoking on campus as early as next semester.
Paul Guenther, McGill’s senior campus planner, said via email that the push for such a policy isn’t new. The McLennan-Redpath Library Terrace was designated as a smoke-free area on-campus in 2014, but the university continued to receive complaints from students of smokers gathering there.
The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) and Post-Graduate Student Society (PGSS) held a vote earlier in the year asking students if they would “support McGill becoming a smoke-free campus if smoking cessation resources were provided and there were ongoing educational campaigns.”
The vote revealed 73 per cent of undergraduate and 77 per cent of post-graduate students were in favour of a smoke-free campus, with similar support from McGill’s staff.
In a motion raised by the SSMU in January, the SSMU said “moving towards this [smoke-free] model could decrease exposure to second-hand smoke, result in lower smoking rates amongst students, and help those trying to quit by providing them with a trigger-free environment.”
Guenther said the push for a smoke-free campus was also fuelled by a request from Quebec’s Minister of Health and Social Service, to ensure “all Quebec post-secondary institutions create a non-smoking policy and establish non-smoking environments by Nov. 26, 2017.”
Guenther said similar “practices from other institutions suggest that community enforcement is broadly effective, and that violations reduce over time.” Members of the school’s security services would be present in problematic areas on campus to educate smokers, he added.
While the new policy would mark a radical change for the university, the school would provide accommodations for smokers, such as designated smoking areas in residences, according to Guenther.
“The rationale behind providing designated smoking areas at residences was that the university does not want to push the community off-site at night into a potentially unsafe environment,” Guenther said.
Carleton University’s own smoking policy resembles McGill’s current one, with smoking being banned within a 10-metre radius from any campus building.
A first-year Carleton political science student who asked not to be named for privacy concerns said a smoke-free policy at Carleton would be beneficial to smokers as well.
“It would help me to quit smoking. If you don’t see people near residence smoking you won’t want to smoke,” he said. “The smoking addiction isn’t that strong, it’s just being used to smoking with others which becomes a habit.”
Abraham Elnakouri, another first-year Carleton political science student, said he is a bit more skeptical about the smoke-free policy.
“Smokers have rights too, which makes it difficult for them, especially since many are dependent upon it. It might incite people to quit, but for the most part, it’s just limiting people,” Elnakouri said.
In response to criticism from smokers, Guenther said the working group for the policy was conscious of smokers’ rights.
“Upon evaluation, we found that nowhere on the downtown campus was further than a three-minute walk to public property,” Guenther said.
Should the policy be implemented, McGill will be the first university in the province to go forward with an entirely smoke-free campus.
“Culture change is the intended goal and this doesn’t occur overnight,” Guenther said.
This article was last updated Oct. 5, 2022.
