Tobacco
Smoking is a major public health issue and a leading cause of
premature death affecting smokers and non-smokers in Canada. Tobacco-related
illnesses and diseases are urgent issues in First Nations and Inuit
communities, where smoking rates are more than double the rate
for the rest of Canada.
On this page:
Health Canada promotes tobacco control and provides resources
to communities with a view to improving the health status of First
Nations and Inuit people.
Traditional and Non-traditional Use of Tobacco
First Nations people
For many First Nations people, tobacco has been used traditionally
in ceremonies, rituals, and prayer for thousands of years. It is
used for a variety of medicinal purposes and its' ceremonial
use has powerful spiritual meaning establishing a direct communication
link between the person giving and the spiritual world receiving.
In the traditional sense, the most powerful way of communicating
with the spirits is to smoke tobacco in a sacred pipe.
While tobacco is sacred, the recreational use of tobacco with
its' high content of nicotine, is addictive and harmful.
First Nations Elders maintain that this type of use is disrespectful
of the spiritual, medicinal, and traditional use of tobacco.
The recreational use (or misuse) of tobacco is any use of tobacco
in a non-traditional way. For example, smoking cigarettes, chewing
tobacco or snuff, smoking non-traditional tobacco in non-sacred
pipes or smoking cigars. There is an important distinction between
the traditional and non-traditional use of tobacco as one is respectful
of First Nations customs, the other being dangerous and harmful.
Traditional tobacco has been used by many First Nations people to:
- Pray;
- Give thanks to the Creator and Mother Earth;
- Communicate with the spirits; and
- Purify the mind and heal the body.
Inuit
Inuit do not practise the traditional or ceremonial use of tobacco.
Facts on Smoking Rates
The First Nations and Inuit Health Branch of Health Canada reports
the following facts on smoking rates in First Nations and Inuit
communities:
- Sixty percent of on-reserve First Nations people between the
ages of 18 and 34 currently smoke;
- Seventy percent of Inuit in the north between the ages of
18 and 45 currently smoke;
- Almost half of Inuit (46%) who smoke started smoking at age
14 or younger; and
- The majority of on-reserve First Nations people who smoke
(52%) started smoking between the ages of 13 and 16.
These statistics are from the 2004 Baseline Study among First
Nations On-reserve and Inuit in the North, Environics Research
Group.
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