Airspace Action on Smoking and Health
Encyclopedia
Airspace Action on Smoking and Health (formerly Airspace Non-smokers' Rights Society) is a volunteer-based anti-tobacco organization in the Canadian province of British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

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Airspace Non-smokers’ Rights Society was initially founded in Victoria in the late 1970s and successfully lobbied for one of Canada’s first ever smoking control by-laws. Dale Jackaman
Dale Jackaman (Canadian politician)
Dale Jackaman is a Canadian politician.-Early life:Jackaman, a social democrat, became well-known in the 1980s and 1990s as one of the founders and past Executive Director of British Columbia's largest anti-tobacco activist and lobby group, Airspace Non-Smokers' Rights Society, later renamed...

, then Secretary of the Victoria organization, moved to Vancouver in 1984. He and Norm Gillan founded the Vancouver branch of Airspace, and Jackaman was its first Executive Director. Jackaman then amalgamated both the Victoria and Namaimo organizations (run by Errol Povah
Errol Povah
Errol Eric Povah is a community activist in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.Errol is best known for his alter ego . As the Grim Reaper, Errol has been a presence wherever the consumption of tobacco is promoted, primarily in Vancouver and Victoria, but also in Ottawa, Seattle, Kuala Lumpur and,...

) and formed what is now the province-wide Airspace organization.

One aspect of the Airspace organization was its early adoption of computer technology to facilitate its activist activities. Airspace was probably the first organization of its kind to adopt a modem based bulletin board system (BBS). Airspace was also one of the first organizations of this nature to have a web site. Some screen shots from an early version of the site turned up in internal documents from Philip Morris
Philip Morris
- Philip/Phillip Morris :*Altria Group, conglomerate company previously known as Philip Morris Companies Inc., named after the 19th century tobacconist**Philip Morris USA, tobacco company wholly owned by Altria Group...

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The organization's public persona is the Grim Reaper, used it to create a form of street theatre
Street theatre
Street theatre is a form of theatrical performance and presentation in outdoor public spaces without a specific paying audience. These spaces can be anywhere, including shopping centres, car parks, recreational reserves and street corners. They are especially seen in outdoor spaces where there are...

at tobacco promotions.

In 1993, the New Democratic Party government of the day announced regulations to prevent the sale of cigarettes to children. Airspace organized a "compliance check" (or "kiddie sting"). Ten Airspace volunteers escorted five youths aged 12 to 16 who attempted to purchase cigarettes. They visited a total of 65 tobacco retailers, and 43% of them were willing to sell cigarettes to the underaged person. This effort got significant press attention, and Burnaby-Edmonds MLA Fred Randall pressed for stronger regulations, such as stiffer fines and suspensions. The provincial government started doing compliance checks of its own to measure the effectiveness of this effort.

During the early 1990s, Airspace staged regular protests in front of Imperial Tobacco's Vancouver office. These protests included an annual "Modified Christmas Caroling", using "Clean Air Carols". These protests came to an end when Imperial Tobacco (the Canadian branch of BAT) closed the Vancouver office and moved their Western Canada operations to Calgary.

External links

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