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Online Petition Calls To Ban Smoking In Condos Across BC

Ban Smoking In Condos

An online petition is calling on the BC Legislature to ban smoking in condos across the province.

The petition, titled “Air We Share”, was started by Naomi Baker. She started this petition shortly after buying a condo in Langley with her husband, when the couple noticed second-hand smoke was seeping into their home from the unit below.

“We tried sealing every crack, seam, outlet and opening in every wall; we tried talking with our neighbour below about our issues with the smoke and how it was adversely affecting our health” reads the petition.

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Naomi says that ever since their baby girl was born, she is “sick over the second-hand smoke having a detrimental effect on her health, even increasing the risk of sudden infant death syndrome”.

Baker appealed to the strata council and asked for a bylaw to ban smoking in the building, but the ban ended up only covering common property, so now it’s worse. As a result, the smoking happens only in the unit behind closed doors, maximizing the toxic smoke density indoors.

Online Petition To Ban Smoking In Condos

As of Friday morning, her petition to ban smoking in multi-unit dwellings has received more than 15,000 signatures.

“There is such strong evidence for these facts that smoking has been banned in public places, within specific distances from doors/windows, in restaurants/bars, in vehicles with children under 16, and even on ferries” continues her petition.

On Thursday, Baker’s petition to ban smoking in condos was presented in the legislature by her local MLA, Mary Polak.

Under the Tobacco and Vapour Products Control Act, smoking in BC is prohibited within 6 metres (buffer zones) of public entrance ways to apartment buildings, open windows and air intakes, as well as common areas.

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