One of the most interesting things about travel is how the small things can suddenly become incredibly important. Details about home that you never take notice of when they鈥檙e right in front of you suddenly become meaningful by their absence.
I鈥檓 not talking about a clash of civilizations or anything, but having just returned from a trip to my old home in Montreal, with a foray into New York City, I can say that as much fun as I had on my adventures, I鈥檓 extremely happy to be back in a city where smoking is not a thing.
I was only 13 years old in 1999, when the Capital Regional District introduced the clean-air bylaw, which banned smoking in bars and restaurants. For my entire adult life, then, Victoria was a city where smoking was not a socially acceptable activity, at least not in public spaces. It was a pariah habit, to be performed furtively in corners or under awnings in the rain. Subsequent bans have pushed smoking further and further beyond the pale of Done Things.
Even though I know my best friend鈥檚 father was a chronic smoker when we were growing up, I don鈥檛 remember ever smelling it in their house, nor can I recall him smoking in front of us kids.
Victoria鈥檚 an anti-smoking success story. Our anti-smoking bylaws are more than simply regulations. They seem to reflect our values, or perhaps our values have grown to embrace them. Either way, non-smoking is a big part of Victoria鈥檚 (and British Columbia鈥檚) culture.
Most of us view smoking bans not as limits on our personal freedoms, but as right and proper protections of our collective health, our children鈥檚 health and our environment. (I鈥檓 not saying that they鈥檙e not limits, just that most of us don鈥檛 mind them.)
Introducing myself to my hostel-mates in New York, I mentioned I was from B.C., and the Australian girls I was rooming with (you always meet Australians in hostels) nodded interestedly and said: 鈥淥h, yes, B.C. 鈥� you鈥檙e very healthy there.鈥�
Victoria is a health-conscious city, and one of the biggest parts of that 鈥� even more than the yoga and the cycling and the organic foods and the gluten-free vegan-friendly caf茅s 鈥� is our attitude toward smoking. For most of us, smoking is Not On.
This isn鈥檛 the case in Montreal, for example. Montreal has its own bans on smoking, of course 鈥� you can鈥檛 smoke in bars or restaurants, and you have to be several metres away from the entrance to a public building before lighting up, but smoking is still a big part of the city鈥檚 culture. It鈥檚 rare to see diners on a patio in summer without a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other, although Quebec is reviewing its provincial Tobacco Act to consider banning patio smoking. People will even brave the appalling Montreal winters to dash outside the club for a smoke.
Similarly, New York has a ban on smoking in public plazas, but in these cities, you still run into an overwhelming amount of it on the street, on outdoor patios and inevitably outside metro and subway stations. For a (mostly) non-smoker coming from a (mostly) non-smoking city, the difference is arresting. And gross.
We all know that second-hand smoke is dangerous and physically uncomfortable for passersby. Yet smoking is a part of these cities鈥� atmosphere, if you will tolerate the terrible pun, and it reminded me how thoroughly and how well our city has embraced a non-smoking identity. Our clean-air bylaws mean that you don鈥檛 have to be assaulted by some stranger鈥檚 carcinogens when you鈥檙e in a public space, and that鈥檚 awesome.
That鈥檚 why I鈥檓 eager to see the Capital Regional District attempt to expand its clean-air bylaws to include all parks, playgrounds, public squares and beaches. While the motion was rejected narrowly last May, the issue came forward again this week. The major problem, it seems, was the difficulty of enforcing such a ban, but it I don鈥檛 think we鈥檙e facing the same hurdles as other cities. We鈥檙e already a non-smoking city at heart.
Moving forward with this ban would put us back on par with the other jurisdictions in B.C. that have already embraced it. We鈥檙e a health-conscious city, and I鈥檓 eager to see if we can take it all the way.
