Aboriginals and Tobacco

Aboriginals and tobacco have mixed for a long time but is it the culture that grips them together? Many people seem to believe that. “Most people don’t think of income as being a risk factor for smoking, let alone the main risk factor.” However, in the article, Aboriginals more likely to be smokers, it states that Aboriginal peoples are smoking not because of their cultural needs but because of continuous discrimination, and poverty. “It has nothing to do with culture status. Low-income people are more likely to smoke, and it just so happens that low-income people have a disproportionate representation of aboriginal people.” By means of this fact, it clearly shows that these people fall into emotional worries, depression and deprive themselves to insanity. A conducted research by Mr. Lemstra shows that:

— 44% daily smokers in the Saskatoon region are Aboriginals.

— 29.5% of smoking Aboriginals’ annual income is below $25, 000.

—    Only 13.6% of families that are making above $75, 000 a year, smoked.

In another article, Disposal of Smoking Material, blamed for deadly Manitoba fire, it clearly shows the dangers and issues that smoking creates. In a shocking afternoon, a poorly disposed smoke blew an Aboriginal reserve trailer in flames. Though locals and firemen rushed to the scene, three children perished along with a fifty-seven year old man who died in the hospital three weeks later because of smoke inhalation.   

Contributed by both articles, more and more Aboriginal people are smoking due to poverty, thus generating a horrific future for these reserves. In relation, the key to stop more deaths and property damage is to help create a smoke free environment, along with rebuilding Aboriginal culture, letting them understand, and promote a better society.

The key point demonstrated by these articles is the fact that the Canadian government is not helping them. Rather, the government feels discriminative about these people and does not help them. If the government would spend more time and effort on keeping people living in First Nations communities safe by providing the services that they and First Nations councils receive funding to provide, such as Fire Safety, home inspections, and addiction counseling instead of giving each other fancy dinners after the big federal residential school apology, maybe Aboriginals and their innocent children would not have to suffer such a fate.