Smoke-Free Campuses

Comprehensive smoke-free campus policies make it easier for people to resist and quit smoking and vaping and can have a tremendous impact on the health of an entire campus community! These policies often include cigarette smoking as well as other forms of commercial tobacco and vapour/e-cigarette products, as well as cannabis.

On January 1, 2018, McMaster became Ontario’s first post-secondary institution to adopt a 100% smoke-free policy. Since then, nearly half of the province’s public college and university campuses have implemented comprehensive smoke-free policies. Momentum behind smoke-free post-secondary schools continues to grow!

Is your campus involved? Check out the Policy Tracker.

Key Messages

When it comes to smoke and vape-free campuses, the voice of students (or staff or faculty), YOUR VOICE, needs to be heard – loud and clear. Through YOUR leadership and passion, you can inspire other students and campus stakeholders to take action and push decision-makers to make positive policy changes.

Use these key messages to rally your peers to the cause:

Message 1: Everyone deserves to breathe clean air where they live, work, study, and play.

Message 2: Addressing the commercial tobacco and vaping epidemic will not only save lives, but also the planet.

Use these key messages to convince administrators that policy change is necessary and positive:

Message 3: Students are targeted by the tobacco industry whose products kill up to two-thirds of long-term users.

Message 4: Smoke-free policies decrease costs for schools without impacting enrollment.

1Day Stand

Adopted from the American Cancer Society’s Tobacco-Free Generation Campus Initiative, public health partners encourage Ontario’s college and university campuses to take a 1DayStand.

What? A 1DayStand inspires institutions to adopt a smoke and vapour-free policy for one day.

Why? A 1DayStand gives everyone on campus a voice. When people share their ideas, change their behaviours, take actions, and start important conversations, a healthier campus emerges.

When? Anytime is a great time for a 1Day Stand! We suggest choosing one or two dates each school year.

Once a date is chosen, on that day:

• Take a 1DayStand with people who smoke or vape to encourage them not to smoke or vape on campus for the day and support them to make a quit attempt.
• Take a 1DayStand with your campus to empower students, staff and faculty to talk about the benefits of a smoke and vapour-free campus policy.
• Take a 1DayStand to generate support and advocate on your campus for a smoke and vapour-free policy.

Resources to help you plan your 1DayStand can be found here.

Already on a smoke and vapour-free campus? Great work!

Host a 1DayStand to celebrate and reinforce the policy, and to recognize the hard work of those who brought the policy to life.

By hosting a 1DayStand event on your campus, you support and empower your peers to quit or stay smoke and vapour-free. You educate students, staff, faculty and visitors on the benefits of smoke and vapour-free campus policies. And you empower people to take action to make your campus a healthier place to live, work, study and play.

Supporting Campus Policy Change

In 2016, a committed group of individuals and organizations including Tobacco Control Area Networks, public health units, Leave The Pack Behind and other Smoke Free Ontario partners came together with the aim of promoting smoke-free campuses across Ontario. Today, the Smoke-free Campus movement is going strong as partners develop and share resources, and work alongside post-secondary institutions to implement 100% smoke and vapour-free policies.

There’s always room for more.

If your campus is working towards policy change, let’s join forces! Experts from public health units will happily share experience, knowledge and resources to support your campus in developing a strong, viable smoke and vapour-free policy. If you are interested in spearheading policy advocacy work on your campus with the support of your local public health unit, please contact them directly or email smokefreecampus@smdhu.org

Tools & Guides

How do you get involved and take action?

Use these resources and information to rally students, staff and faculty to your cause, and inspire your campus to adopt a smoke and vapour-free campus policy. If you are interested in more information about tobacco control bylaws in your city/region, refer to your local public health unit.

Featured Resources

Making Campuses Smoke-Free: A Guide to Action
The aim of this guidebook is to provide important information and increase support for the creation of smoke and vapour-free policies at post-secondary campuses across Ontario. The Making Campuses Smoke and vapour-free Guide outlines what a smoke-free campus can look like and summarizes four key messages about smoking and vaping on campus to support and encourage students and stakeholders to become leaders in these efforts.

Smoke-Free Campus Dropbox
This Smoke-Free Campus Dropbox includes various tools and resources to support you in developing a 100% smoke and vapour-free campus policy, planning for and implementing a 1DayStand, and learning more about the smoke-free campus movement.

Other Resources

• Book – Nichter, M. (2015). Lighting Up: The rise of social smoking on college campuses. New York and London: New Your University Press
• Create change; A Student Toolkit from the Tobacco-Free College Campus Initiative