Smoking banned outdoors on all CIUSSS West-Central Montreal sites starting January 1
Coming soon to a site near you: a smoke-free environment!
Our CIUSSS’s smoke-free environment policy kicks off on January 1 with a ban on smoking tobacco, cannabis and e-cigarettes outdoors on all CIUSSS property. This will mean the closing of the remaining three outdoor smoking areas at the Jewish General Hospital.
Staff, users and visitors caught smoking on CIUSSS property will face appropriate measures, which could include a $361 fine as set out under the Tobacco Control Act.
Technical Services will be replacing all no-smoking signs with new versions indicating the smoke-free zones. The visual was developed by an ad hoc committee made of communications professionals from the five Montreal CIUSSSs, with the goal of a common pictogram identifying the health establishments in Montreal that are smoke-free.
In 2015, the Quebec government modified the Tobacco Control Act so that all health establishments in Quebec had to put in place a tobacco control policy favoring a smoke-free environment. That policy was adapted by the CIUSSS Board of Directors in 2017, with a two-year period for its implementation.
The only exception to the ban in our CIUSSS will be the smoking rooms in four long-term care facilities — Donald Berman Maimonides, Donald Berman Jewish Eldercare, Henri Bradet Residential Centre, and Father Dowd Residential Centre.
With the smoke-free policy coming into effect soon, smokers may wish to take advantage of the smoking cessation resources available at CIUSSS West-Central. All CLSCs have smoking cessation centres to explore different methods to help smokers quit. For those who wish to take part in a group, the Stroll Family Cancer Prevention Centre at the Jewish General Hospital offers group sessions on smoking cessation. More information can be found on the CIUSSS West-Central Montreal web site.
