Approach
The Indigenous Tobacco Program team includes Tobacco Wise Leads who work directly with communities and organizations in different regions across Ontario to co-create culturally relevant and safe programming to support and promote First Nations, Inuit, Métis and urban Indigenous people’s health and well-being. These partnerships respect community strength and resilience, and ensure local needs are prioritized.
Our approach aligns with the three pillars of the Smoke-Free Ontario strategy
Cessation
- Work with organizations and agencies to promote culturally grounded First Nations, Inuit, Métis and urban Indigenous cessation programs.
- Enhance First Nations, Inuit, Métis and urban Indigenous community knowledge and capacity to deliver commercial tobacco cessation information to their peoples.
- Work with partners to provide cessation training and support to community health staff and members.
Prevention
- Reduce the number of First Nations, Inuit, Métis and urban Indigenous individuals who start using commercial tobacco, cannabis and vaping products, specifically young community members.
- Create awareness of the harmful effects of commercial tobacco use, cannabis use and vaping.
- Use contests, conferences, workshops, activities and promotional materials to engage schools and spread awareness of the dangers of commercial tobacco use, cannabis use and vaping.
Protection
- At the direction of the communities, assist in developing smoke-free by-laws and policies that meet the needs of First Nations communities.
- Show the available options for limiting access to commercial tobacco and creating smoke-free environments.
- Help to build awareness of the harmful effects of commercial tobacco use, the dangers of second-hand and third-hand smoke, the effectiveness of smoking bans and exposure to smoking by youth.
Chronic Disease
The team also develops programming and resources specific to chronic disease prevention, management and addressing the modifiable risk factors associated with chronic disease (e.g., alcohol use, nutrition, physical activity, stress, sleep, etc.). We approach this work through a lens of health equity, recognizing that the social determinants of health play a significant role in the onset of chronic disease.
Contact us
To connect with our team and learn more about the supports we offer, please send us an email.