Nobody is being forced to butt out in Enderby just yet.
The Interior Health Authority has approached the city about establishing a no-smoking initiative, but no quick decisions are being made.
“We need to see if there is community support first,” said Coun. Roxanne Davyduke.
The IHA project would include determining if there is public support for restricting tobacco use in specified outdoor areas.
“We are wanting to replicate the work previously done with the Village of Lumby and formulate a template that we can then roll out to even more communities,” said Tanya Osborne, IHA community health facilitator.
In Lumby, nursing students engaged with elementary and secondary school students.
“All of this information was gathered and used to help inform council on the importance of creating a comprehensive tobacco bylaw,” said Osborne.
Last year, Lumby banned smoking on the Salmon Trail and within three metres of bus stops, parks, playgrounds, spray park and the pool.
Davyduke would not speculate on whether similar rules could occur in Enderby.
“Quite a few communities have bylaws in place but we need to understand where our community is with that,” she said.
