Heather Crowe and Neil Collishaw visit Iqaluit, Yellowknife, Edmonton and Calgary, March 9-18, 2003 Journal

Sunday, March 9, 2003

09:00

Heather Crowe and I are enjoying a pre-flight coffee in the observation lounge at the Ottawa airport. We are buried in our papers, reviewing the schedule and itinerary for the coming week.

“Excuse me,” says the stranger. “You must be Heather Crowe. And you are Neil, right? Didn’t they tell you about me? I’ll be with you all week.”

Momentarily taken aback, I glance at the schedule and recover quickly. The first line of the itinerary says, “Pido Productions, Yellowknife. Entire itinerary to be filmed.”

“You’re Pido Productions,” I say to the stranger. “Yup, they have hired me to film you for the entire week. “My name is Herb, Herb Tyler.”

We all relax and discuss the upcoming week. Herb is based in Ottawa, but has a lot of experience filming in the North.

“Heather, we won’t start filming until we arrive in Iqaluit,” Herb explains. I’ll ask you to wear a radio microphone and transmitter all week. You’ll get used to it. Soon, you won’t even notice it’s there.” Heather readily agrees.

“What’s the film for?” I ask. Herb explains: “From the footage, we will probably make a couple of PSA’s for broadcast across the North. In addition, we’ll make a twelve-minute video. These are used frequently by the government. They turn out to be a valuable form of communication in the North, especially in the more remote communities, where there are few broadcast or print media.”

09:45

After a long line-up at security, and a long, slow walk through the airport, Heather and I among the last to check in for our flight. After showing our boarding passes, we face another long walk through an enclosed walkway. I remind Heather to walk slowly. I see a wheelchair and, even though I am pretty sure what the answer will be, I ask Heather if she would like to save her strength and let me push her. Predictably she replies, “No, thank you,” and then pointedly adds, “I am determined to avoid wheelchairs just as long as I possibly can.” Our long slow walk continues. Then we have to walk outside, through an unplowed snowdrift, across about 200 metres of airport tarmac with a bitter wind sweeping across from the north-west.

Heather did well walking slowly indoors, but on the 200-metre outdoor walk, the cold winter air slices through her, leaving her very short of breath as we climb the stairs to our Boeing 737. Mental note for the rest of week: Minimize time Heather spends outdoors, ensure that she is well bundled up, and walks very short distances only.

Smiling, the stewardess gives us the good news, “The sun has come out in Iqaluit, the wind died down and the temperature has risen to -15 C.”

With good news like that, Heather recovers quickly. It’s going to be a good week

14:30

We arrive in Iqaluit an hour late because of a delay to de-ice the plane in Ottawa. Brilliant sunshine and warm temperatures. Well, -15 C is warmer than it was in Ottawa when we left. And -15 C is warm enough to get everyone out of their houses and walking around for Sunday afternoon. The town is alive. We are greeted by Nadia and Dominique from Health and Social Services, together with Paul Smith from the Crazy Caribou B&B, our host for our stay in Iqaluit. There had been a delegation of ten schoolchildren to greet us, but they could not stay past 2 p.m.

Paul takes us to our home in house number 490 with a dramatic view of Frobisher Bay. After tea and cookies he takes on a brief tour of Iqaluit (It’s the only kind there is). We see the museum, a store and the Road to Nowhere. We return as the sun is setting and a dog team is returning to town across the bay after a day of hunting.

Supper tonight at the Frobisher Inn and a full day tomorrow, starting at 8 a.m.

Monday, March 10, 2003

09:30

Heather and I took Paul Smith to dinner at the smoke-free Frobisher Inn on Sunday night.

Paul had told us that the best place to buy soapstone and whalebone carvings was from merchants who come to your table in the Frobisher Inn. We were a little late and missed most of the merchants. However, Heather did buy a small hand-painted tapestry for her granddaughter.

Stéphane Bernier, a WCB employee, drives us everywhere. We are very grateful. Stéphane hails from Grand Falls, NB. He is one of many francophones in Iqaluit. There is even a French school.

I had thought that we were scheduled to have breakfast with two Ministers, but they did not show up. There was a misunderstanding or a missed communication. Heather and I had breakfast at the Discovery Inn by ourselves. The Discovery Inn will go smoke-free on April 1, two weeks in advance of the bylaw which comes in on April 15.

11:45

We caught up with Ministers Ng and Picco at a luncheon in the Legislative Building a couple of hours later. All the good and the great of Iqaluit were assembled for this luncheon – in addition to the two Ministers, there were officials of DHSS and the WCB, Ministerial Assistants, the Premier’s Assistant, the Mayor and some city councillors, several community elders and several members of the Legislative Assembly.

Not only had Nadia Salvaterra not received the press kits from Yellowknife, she had no knowledge of their existence. But we recover nicely by implementing Plan B. Nadia makes 25 copies of the kit from one of the few I have with me. In a few minutes, everyone has a copy, and I have some spares for later.

From the remarks made, it is clear that a consensus has already been reached here in Nunavut. Second-hand smoke will be banned from workplaces. What remains is simply to work out the details. Will it be legislation or regulation? Which law? Which regulation? How will territorial legislation coordinate with municipal legislation? When will it all happen? These questions can be major issues when there is no consensus or resolve to get the job done. But there is consensus and resolve here, which turns otherwise major problems into mere technical details.

The WCB has shown itself to be particularly enlightened. They are showing excellent initiative on this file. Their exemplary behaviour should be copied by other WCBs across Canada. They are raising issues, stimulating discussion, and judiciously creating space for legislators to take leadership and claim ownership of policy initiatives on the issue.

The mayor invites us to address the city council tomorrow at 6 p.m. We gladly accept.

A highlight of the meeting was when one member of the Legislative Assembly, speaking in Inuktitut, related that he thought that Heather and I had brought important information to them and that he, as an elder, now felt a special responsibility to use the information to protect the community, and, especially, to teach the younger people the importance of avoiding tobacco smoke.

Heather listened intently to the simultaneous interpretation and replied, “My mother was a Micmac. I was raised in the ways of the Micmac. I, too, consider myself an elder, and also feel responsible for protecting others and teaching the young. That is why I am here. That is why I am talking to people all across Canada about the need to protect ourselves from second-hand smoke.” A dramatic hush fell across the room.

13:30

Heather and I take our place in the visitors’ gallery of the Legislative Assembly. The Assembly chamber, newly built in 1999, is a dramatic round hall awash in narwhal tusks, Nunavut diamonds, gold, silver, lapis lazuli, sealskin furniture (no seal-huggers here), soapstone carvings, native costumes and a delightful made-in-Nunavut version of legislative pomp and circumstance. Where else would you find a speaker’s mace made from a narwhal tusk?

Minister Picco introduces us to the Members of the Legislative Assembly. Moving tribute to Heather. Applause. Ed Picco states the government’s intention to protect all workers from second-hand smoke.

Herb (remember Herb?) has been filming all the while, and hustling up some media interest too. Herb rounded up a CBC cameraman and reporter to interview Heather as we left the legislature.

Interview completed, the ever-patient Stéphane drives us back to the Crazy Caribou. A blizzard has blown up while we were in the legislature: winds up to 90 km/hr and whiteout conditions. Government offices close early.

But Heather and I keep going. Next appointment at 7 p.m. 19:00

Stéphane drives us to House 2536, the Accommodation by the Sea. There we have dinner with the Health Minister’s Youth Action Team on Tobacco. There are 15 players on the team, all Inuit 17-18 years old from small communities in Nunavut, such as Grise Fiord, Cambridge Bay, and other small, isolated communities.

Heather shines. She is in top form and lets the kids have it. The no-holds-barred Heather story, the one that includes her fear of death, how long the biopsy needle is, what chemotherapy smells like and what it feels like to be barfing your guts out in the toilet as a result of chemotherapy. The girl from Cambridge Bay weeps, recalling the death from lung cancer of one of her community’s elders. As is often the case with Inuit kids, they are shy and say little if anything during the formal part of the meeting. But they are very, very attentive and they all speak with Heather afterwards, animated and excited, but only one or two at a time. Heather has touched them deeply. Wondrously though, they give something to Heather too. They make her life longer, richer, fuller, more purposeful.

Heather gives the kids inspiration; they give Heather life.

The kids all get an information kit. During the afternoon, the kits have magically appeared from Yellowknife.

I learn more about Nadia. She is just 21 and has been studying (and excelling) in an undergraduate biomedical science program at the University of Guelph. She has taken a year off from her studies to be the Chief of Tobacco Control for DHSS in Nunavut. The year-long assignment grew out of a 3-month summer student job in the Health Department. She has helped draft soon-to-be-introduced legislation that, if implemented, will be the most comprehensive provincial or territorial tobacco control legislation in Canada. Her father is a lawyer; her mother is a doctor. She is seeking (predictably) to enter a combined program at Dalhousie leading to degrees in both law and medicine.

We have an early start tomorrow. Heather will be doing a live studio interview for the local CBC morning show at 7:30 a.m.

Tuesday, March 11, 2003

07:30

An early start to a beautiful day under warm sunshine. We are at the CBC Radio studio. In a few minutes, Heather will be interviewed live by Joanna Alwa, the cheerful morning host who switches seamlessly on air between English and Inuktituk. Joanna is a charming can-do hostess. She greets her guests warmly; she conducts a polished and well-researched interview with Heather; and makes a good cup of coffee too.

There are only weekly newspapers here, so radio is a very important medium for daily news and information. As she speaks, Heather’s words will reach all 26 Nunavut communities.

And she is very well-spoken. She has done live studio interviews on CBC local morning shows in Regina, Winnipeg, St. John’s and now Iqaluit. Every time out, her self-confidence and clarity of expression grow, but she never fails to tug hard on the heartstrings of every one who hears her. She tells her story with disarming honesty and profound depth of feeling. Her interview creates a buzz around Iqaluit, a buzz that is echoed back to us several times throughout the day.

10:00

Heather and I visit the Health Minister, Ed Picco, in his office in the Legislative Building. Ed is on a tear. He pounds the desk to make his points. “Did you know that 80% of babies under 6 months of age are hospitalized in Nunavut? Down south, it’s only 2%!

It’s a tragedy that shouldn’t happen and it’s outrageous! Do you know what causes that? Second-hand smoke, that’s what!” Ed pounds the desk again, in vain trying to pound the problem into submission.

He leans over and looks imploringly into Heather’s eyes. “We need you Heather; we need you to get the word out that second-hand smoke kills. Have you talked to the papers? No? We need you to talk to the papers.” Quickly, interviews materialize for later in the day with News North and Nunatsiaq News, the weekly papers.

We assure Minister Picco that we are doing all that we can to heighten public awareness of the second-hand smoke problem, and that our efforts will not end when our visit to Iqaluit comes to an end. We will do all that we can to help out from our base in Ottawa and, if it will be helpful, we can come back.

Discussion turns to legislative plans. Minister Picco intends to move towards comprehensive tobacco control legislation that would set a new standard for territorial and provincial tobacco control, but is well aware that he does not yet have a high enough degree of political and community support to achieve his goal. A stepwise approach is needed. He feels he needs more popular understanding and support, and more support from opinion leaders in various communities. Heather and I pledge to help him out all we can.

Heather mentions that she will have lunch with Anne McLellan on March 19 in Ottawa. “She’s a nice lady, but she’s new on the job,” says Ed. “I am the longest-serving Health Minister in Canada.” (This means that Ed Picco is the dean of the Conference of federal, provincial and territorial Health Ministers, a status that gives him credibility and influence far greater than could normally be expected for someone from a jurisdiction with a population of less than 30,000.) “When you see her, please tell her that we’ve got some serious problems with tobacco here, and we’re doing the best we can to deal with them. But we need her to get serious about tobacco too. We can’t beat this problem with photo opportunities.” Heather promises to do her best to get the message across.

12:00

After a brief round of gift shopping, Heather and I stop in for lunch at the Frobisher Inn, with Rainer Launhardt, the hotel manager. Stéphane had arranged it earlier in the day.

If only more business leaders had Rainer’s sense of community responsibility! We learn his laudable actions go well beyond making the hotel restaurant smoke-free. That in itself was a bold and responsible move in a community where 75% of people smoke and none of his competitors has acted similarly. “When we first brought it in, business dipped slightly, but came right back up within a month or two. Now, business is better than ever,” he reports, beaming.

“We have banned smoking in the restaurant, and done well. But I don’t feel we can ban smoking in the bar until we have a complete ban on smoking in all the bars and bars in so-called private clubs, too.” Smoking in all Iqaluit restaurants will be banned as of April 15 when the new by law takes effect. And the city council will probably ban smoking in bars too, if Ed Picco is successful in shepherding changes to the Cities, Towns and Villages Act through the Legislative Assembly`, changes that would enable the city council to take action on smoking in the bars. Hopefully, Heather’s visit will tip the scales in the direction of more protection from second-hand smoke.

As we speak, soapstone carving merchants are circulating throughout the dining room. “I applaud your decision to let the merchants in,” say I. “A less enlightened manager would have branded them riff-raff and shut them out.” Rainer replies, “Well, I admit that was my initial policy when I first came here four years ago, but I was quickly convinced by some of the local people, that letting them in would be much appreciated by the community. I listened to their advice and started letting them in. And I’m very glad I did. Now, many people come here mainly to shop for soapstone carvings and buy the handicrafts. Of course, while they are here, they have a meal too. So everybody wins. My business is better, the handicraft merchants do a brisk trade, and it has become a favourite community attraction.” I buy a beautiful Cape Dorset soapstone polar bear for $110.

Once again, I congratulate Rainer for doing good, noting that he is also doing well by doing good. Warming to the subject, he adds, “Let me tell you about drinking and the blizzards. Blizzards around here are quite frequent. When one blows through, the taxis stop running. When the taxis stop running, we stop serving alcohol at the bar. We have liability issues and we do not want to encourage drinking and driving. For us this is the solution. During blizzards we also stop serving alcohol in the restaurant. Now, that causes a good deal of grumbling among the hotel guests who argue that they weren’t going to drive anywhere anyway, since they are staying at the hotel. However, to make an exception for hotel guests would amount to racial discrimination, since most of guests are white and many or most of our restaurant patrons from town are Inuk. We certainly did not want to go there. So it’s the same rule for everybody—no alcohol is served during a blizzard. And if you don’t like it—get used to it. And most do.” We leave the Frobisher Inn, our spirits lifted knowing that an eventual ban on smoking in all bars and restaurants in Iqaluit will receive strong support from Rainer, a businessman with a fine sense of community responsibility and the biggest hotel and restaurant in town.

13:00

Heather and I informally meet and greet the entire Iqaluit staff of the WCB, about a dozen folks, in their cramped offices in the Trigram Building. I congratulate them on their enlightened approach to prevention and relate that I will be badgering other WCB’s across Canada to come up to the standard that the Nunavut-NWT WCB is setting in the prevention department.

Since arriving, I have been looking for someone with at least some knowledge of the technical aspects of the Safety Act and its regulations. Finally, I find him: Fred Campbell. We agree that are some pocky and out-of-date provisions in the Act that could lead to trouble later. He reports that a major revision and update of the law and regulation is underway. We also agree that a ban on workplace smoking is needed sooner rather than later, and that a way will be found to do this in a way that is either part of or complementary to legislative and regulatory reform.

Heather Crowe, media darling, is on the phone to a reporter in Edmonton.

16:15

Herb has been anticipating this event all day. Here’s the deal. At 1:00, Nadia and the Tobacco Youth Action Team had hitched up Mika Mike’s Canadian Inuit dogs for a dogsled ride out onto Frobisher Bay. They were due back in about now, 4:15. Heather had expressed a keen interest in going for a dogsled ride, and we thought that she could go for a short ride when the teams came back in with the kids. Here we are on the shore of the bay and Herb is all ready to go. He has his camera set up and so does the CBC guy. Nadia pulls up on a snowmobile and explains the situation. For safety reasons, the dogs are not allowed in town. They stay out on the smooth ice, past the rough tidal ice.

(Frobisher Bay has the second-highest tides in the world, after the Bay of Fundy). So Heather and Herb would have to get in a sled behind the snowmobile, go for a rough 10-minute ride out over the tidal ice. Only then could she go for a dogsled ride. All of this would be okay but for the fact that the weather has turned ugly again. Gone is the sunshine and warm -5C that we had at noon. Now the temperature has dropped to -25C and the wind is biting through flesh at 50 km/h. Heather samples the wind, thinks about the radiation scars in her lungs, and wisely decides to pass on this. We all support Heather in her decision, and Herb does too, but as he walks away he is heard to mutter, “Dogs, we gotta have some shots of Heather with dogs.”

18:30

After a brief and friendly appearance at the Iqaluit town council meeting, Heather and I travel to Inuksuk high school for a public meeting at 7p.m. While we are waiting for chairs to be set up, one of the teachers, Brian Doherty, realizes that Heather and I have not eaten and are not likely to get anything to eat anytime soon. He disappears to the bazaar taking place downstairs, and returns with plates piled high with vegetables, rice and Arctic char. Heather and I gratefully wolf it down while planning our presentations. I enlist Chris and Clarissa, the kids from Cambridge Bay, to help by asking Heather some questions in a friendlier question-and-answer format. I use the questions that Carol McDonald had prepared previously for a similar event at Canterbury High School in Ottawa (Many thanks to you, Carol).

Once again, Heather gives an outstanding presentation. The kids are great and help make the event interesting and enjoyable for the 30-40 people present. Towards the end of Heather’s presentation, I signal the presence of Minister Ed Picco, who has slipped in late. He needs no more cue than mere acknowledgement to race to the front of the room and join the head table. With a smile, I say “Ed, don’t tell me you’re just like all the other politicians, always looking for a parade that’s going by so you can run to the front to lead it!” He laughs offs my good-natured teasing, and takes over leadership of the parade anyway. Right away, he impresses Heather by beginning his remarks in fluent Inuktitut. But good for Ed. He knows that his tobacco legislation cannot succeed without building community support. So here he is at 8 p.m. on a Tuesday night, doing just that.

A lively question-and-answer period follows, including several questions from Derek, the local super hero. In truth, he is not a super hero. He is a snow shoveller who dresses like a super hero. Snow shoveller or super hero, he and a growing number of people in Iqaluit strongly support a smoke-free environment.

While Heather completes several interviews (News North, Nunatsiaq, North Beat, Inuit Broadcasting), I do my best to lift Herb’s sagging spirits. “It just won’t work,” he says. “Look, you’ve had a lotta meetings, so I’ve shot a lot of dialogue. But for TV, it’s like, you know, boring. I gotta have some human interest, I gotta have some dogs. We gotta get some shots of Heather with a dog team. We can’t just have pictures of people’s jaws flapping all the time.”

“Herb, you can do it,” I say encouragingly, “You’re the man. You know your way around here. And look, it doesn’t have to be dogs. Anything with a human interest angle will do. Now, look, Heather and I have nothing on tomorrow morning. We’ll go get filmed wherever you want, whenever you want, as long as it’s tomorrow morning. Herb, remember, you’re the man. I know you can do it. Human interest, Herb, anything at all.”

Herb’s face brightened considerably. He left Inuksuk High School that night a man possessed, a man on a mission.

Will Herb succeed? Find out tomorrow.

Wednesday, March 12, 2003

10:40

Heather and I had a welcome opportunity to catch up on our sleep. Stéphane has just picked us up and we are on our way. But where?

Stéphane has talked to Herb and gives us a report. “Herb checked out the dogs. But there’s no way. A municipal by-law prevents Mika Mike from bringing the dogs into town. She is obliged to keep them out on the bay all the time. So he lined up something else. Jewellery. We’re going to meet him at Nunavut Arctic College.”

Herb is beaming. “I’ve been up since seven and on the phone setting this up. Heather, you’re going to love this. It’s indoors, so the cold won’t bother you. And the students do beautiful work.” Heather talks animatedly to many of the students – nearly all Inuit – as they work making jewellery – fine and painstaking work in silver and gold. Their creations are all unique, their designs strongly reflecting Inuit culture. And Herb films it all. Herb hustled and Herb succeeded. He got his human interest footage. Viewers will not be subjected to endless jaw flapping. Dialogue sequences will successfully be broken up with shots of jewellery-making.

12:00

We are at the Rotary Club, optimistic that we have yet another audience to which to deliver our message. Well, partly true. But Iqaluit is a small town, and like any small town, one quickly starts seeing the same community activists over and over again.

Rotary Club members present include at least 5 people who already heard us in other forums earlier in the week. Nevertheless, we are well-received. In honour of our visit, they made the meeting smoke-free. We unsubtly urge them to make the smoke-free policy permanent. Dave Simms from WCB has already presented a motion to that effect. Let’s hope for the best.

13:00

Before we head for the airport, Stéphane takes us on a quick tour of Iqaluit and Apex. For me, a highlight is a visit to the Hudson’s Bay fur trading post in Apex. Once the centre of the community, the buildings now sit abandoned on a windswept shore in a lonely part of town. The town centre has moved to new Iqaluit (the old US military base) and turned its back on its history. The boarded-up Hudson’s Bay buildings sit silent on the shore, mute witnesses to a forgotten past.

Pictures taken, smoked Arctic char purchased (one for Stéphane, one for Paul and two for me), we check out the Road to Nowhere one more time, say goodbye to Iqaluit and head for the airport.

Many of the Minister’s Tobacco Action Team are on the plane with us, on their way back to Cambridge Bay and other points west.

By chance Heather and I meet and chat with Peter Irniq, Commissioner of Nunavut at the airport. He feels honoured to meet Heather, and Heather feels honoured to meet Peter.

We settle in for a long flight across the Arctic.

The plane stops in Rankin Inlet. Never have I seen such a featureless landscape. Standing outside the airport and looking west, away from the town, as far as the eye can see, one sees – nothing. A flat featureless landscape. No natural features. No man-made feature. No features. Not even a fence-post or a tree or a bush. Just nothing. An endless flat field of snow against the sky. And, oh yes, -35C and a 40 km/h wind. 45 minutes in Rankin Inlet is plenty for me.

17:00

Heather and I are overwhelmed by the warm welcome we receive at the Yellowknife airport by a delegation of WCB staff, Penny Ballantyne, Margaret Bertulli, Shawn McCann and Andy Wong. They drive us to the Explorer Hotel. Margaret has thoughtfully provided in our hotel rooms care packages that include some snacks to chase away the late-night munchies, and lots of bottled water for cancer patients that need to keep their fluid levels up.

No official program tonight, so I take advantage of the break to contact friends Nancy and Ron Cymbalisty. Heather and I go around to their house on Latham Island for a short visit. It’s great to catch up with Nancy and Ron and they enjoy meeting Heather.

22:00

We turn in early. Big day tomorrow.

Thursday, March 13, 2003

08:00

We start the day on a high note. Power breakfast with Joe Handley, Minister responsible for the WCB. I look him in the eyes. Heather is to his right, Penny to his left, and we are flanked by others from WCB and DHSS. We are relentless. Joe gets a strong, coherent message. Second-hand smoke is killing Heather; it will kill others, unless you do the right thing—ban smoking in all workplaces. Joe asks good questions. What’s happening in other jurisdictions? What other options are there? Where will the opposition come from? Who are my supporters? Joe gets good answers. Lots of action at the municipal level— Victoria, Vancouver, Waterloo, Ottawa and others. The best provincial laws are in BC and PEI, but they fail to protect all workers. Both laws have exceptions that put waiters and waitresses at risk. No permanent economic damage. In many places, bars and restaurants are doing better than ever. A real chance for the Territories to show leadership on this issue. Joe, the right thing to do is to ban smoking in all workplaces. If you want to do the right thing, there are no other options. Count on opposition from the hospitality industry with the tobacco industry pulling their chain. However, damage can be contained. We’ve got their number. If you do the right thing, we’ll back you all the way. If need be, Heather and I can return around the time of legislative change to help out. And you can count on solid research and technical support from WCB and DHSS.

Joe relaxes, sits back and smiles. He senses that he has a winning issue, and a winning team.

09: 30

We stop at the CBC studio to set up tomorrow morning’s live radio interview. Shawn takes us on a tour of Latham Island and N’dilo. Heather spots a native health centre. We stop. Heather goes in, introduces herself, and invites folks to tonight’s public meeting. Heather never stops working.

10:30

We join a CCTC (Canadian Council on Tobacco Control) conference call moderated by Jack Boomer. Heather brings folks up to date on her trip across the north, and we all get updates on by-law action across the country. I check in with Catherine Cole on planning for our April 1 trip to Halifax. Herb takes pictures of people flapping their jaws at a speaker phone.

Noon

MLAs, city councillors, WCB Board Members and other community leaders have been invited to a luncheon at the Legislature to hear Heather’s story. I requested an invitation for Nancy Cymbalisty, and we are pleased to see her here. Attendance is lower than expected, but I am assured that most key community leaders are present. Heather speaks briefly, but powerfully, and scores bull’s-eyes. Later, Andy Wong relates that one of the MLAs asked what kind of order he could issue to cause the WCB to get to work on the second-hand smoke issue. Andy was delighted to reply that the issue was well in hand and that the MLA in question should support workplace legislation that would soon be introduced into the legislature.

14:00

We have a brief tour of the legislature. It is a no-party, government-by-consensus legislature, like Nunavut. And form follows function. The legislature follows First Nations traditions, and sits in the round, also like Nunavut. A conciliatory form, conducive to solving problems together. I recall my days working in several of the circular and hemispherical meeting rooms of WHO and United Nations governing bodies, where government by consensus also prevails. I muse that it seems an altogether more cooperative and more satisfactory form of democracy than the open warfare that occurs in the provincial and federal legislature where opposing parties throw barbs at each other across the aisle while facing off in rigid rows, each side advancing on the other like armies.

Joe Handley introduces us from the gallery. But we cannot tarry. There is more work to do.

14:30

Back to the CBC studio. Heather does a good TV interview for CBC TV’s North Beat. She did another for North Beat in Iqaluit. I am anxious to see what they did with the two interviews for broadcast. I hope someone can download them from the internet for me. Now it’s nap time for Heather.

17:30

Margaret and Shawn take us to a Great Slave Lake fish supper at Bullock’s, a YK institution.

19:00

We are at the public meeting at the United Church. Heather is looking pale and tired. Because of the steroids, she was unable to sleep at nap time. This is bad; later it will get worse.

To make the presentation easier for her, I make sure that she can sit down, and rather than her speaking at length, we do the presentation in Q&A format with me asking the questions.

There are about forty people present and at the end of the evening, we have a lively question-and-answer session.

21:00

Early to bed. Roll call tomorrow is at 7:15 a.m. for the CBC studio radio interview.

Friday, March 14, 2003

07:15

“Good morning, Heather. How are you feeling this morning?” I cheerfully ask in the Explorer Hotel lobby. I am taken aback by the answer. “Not very good. It’s hard to breathe. I have a rattle in my chest. I had trouble taking a shower and my legs have been aching and shaking.” Her breathing is laboured; she looks pale and tired.

Nevertheless, Heather is determined to do the live radio interview at the CBC studio. Once again, she tells her story simply, poignantly and powerfully. In the pauses in her speech, I can hear her laboured breathing. And so can all the listeners across NWT, from Hay River to Tuktoyaktuk.

Interview over, we head back to the hotel for breakfast. In the truck on the way back, we all agree that Heather has to see a doctor today. I ask Shawn to arrange it for 9:00 this morning, or later in the afternoon. Morning would be better. Shawn is on the case.

Heather and I have breakfast. I telephone Carol McDonald in Ottawa to report on Heather’s condition and seek advice. As always, Carol offers sound advice, “Get her to emergency!” As if on cue, Shawn arrives at that very minute. The hospital has already been contacted. They are expecting Heather to arrive momentarily. Shawn, Margaret and I accompany Heather to the hospital.

Within two minutes, they have checked Heather’s heart rate and breathing rate. The former is too high, the latter too low. A worried look crosses the nurse’s face. She claps an oxygen mask on Heather’s nose and mouth, draws the curtain, and sends me back to the waiting room. Fifteen minutes pass. The nurses report to us that Heather is doing much better; her colour has returned and she is resting comfortably. Soon, the doctor will see her and she will have a chest x-ray.

10:30

Margaret, Shawn and I watch the clock and decide that at least some of us have to rejoin the events scheduled for this busy day. Shawn stays put in the hospital with strict instructions to keep us informed of further developments. Margaret joins the all-day meeting of the NWT Tobacco Advisory Committee, and I go to Sir John Franklin High School, where the event that Heather was scheduled to speak has already begun.

11:00

I join the school assembly in progress. Ginny Lovell is giving a presentation to the kids based on her book, “You Are The Target”. Herb is disconsolate. He had been counting on high quality video of Heather talking to high school kids. “Whatever will I do without my star, Heather Crowe?” says the look on his face.

But first I have to deal with my own grief. The assembly is taking place in the Rick Tremblay Memorial Room. There is the plaque on the wall, and his picture with the wrestling team. Rick was a sturdy fire plug of a man, his luxuriant black beard half as long as he was tall. He was exactly the same age as me. He was my colleague and my friend. During my days at Health Canada, he was my counterpart in the NWT, chief tobacco control officer for the territory. We met and corresponded frequently. I knew him to be an outstanding public servant, a good colleague and a good friend. News of his death in 2001 had not reached me in Ottawa. I was only learning of it now.

Ginny is just finishing up and now it is my turn to explain Heather’s absence. For the only time this week, Herb puts the wire on me and takes my picture. Usually I just carry the bags and stay out of the frame. Like everyone else, though, I wish Heather was here.

I start my brief remarks by paying tribute to my friend and colleague, Rick Tremblay.

Then I tell the kids a little bit about Heather. I explain why she cannot be with them today. I tell them exactly what I saw in the hospital— high heart rate, low breathing rate, oxygen mask.

The kids stare at me, eyes widening in rapt, troubled, uncomprehending attention. Heather’s absence is every bit as powerful as her presence.

Noon

I am in a classroom in the WCB office. We are having an informal lunch with members of the NWT Tobacco Advisory Committee and some Grade 7 and 8 students who participate in BLAST (Building Leadership for Action in Schools Today). BLAST is a program sponsored by the Alberta and NWT Lung Association. Later, I will tell the ALA folks in Edmonton about the activities of the BLAST kids in Yellowknife. They will be delighted.

Nancy Trotter is a member of the NWT TAC. She is Rick Tremblay’s widow. We have a good chat.

Dave Grundy gives us the news that at 11:30, they decided to give Heather a CAT scan, to be administered at 12:15 and read at 1:00 p.m.

Heather’s doctor in Ottawa requested such a scan at the beginning of March. The scan was done on March 6, and will not be read until March 26. A procedure that takes a month to do in Ottawa is completed, start to finish, in Yellowknife in an hour and a half. But Heather is going to be in the hospital a little while longer. The 1:30 meeting with the WCB staff is cancelled, and I return to the hotel.

15:00

The phone rings in my hotel room. “A very determined woman is sitting in my office. Her name is Heather Crowe and she is determined to fulfil her commitment to speak to the WCB staff. We have rescheduled our 1:30 meeting for 3:30. Please get here as soon as you can,” says Penny Ballantyne. Her tone of voice conveys her deep admiration for Heather.

The hospital had wanted to admit her as an in-patient, keeping her overnight for rest and observation. Heather would have none of it. She talked her way out by promising to be a good girl and resting all weekend – or most of it anyway.

“That’s one tough lady,” Dave Grundy overheard a hospital staffer to remark as Heather got in the WCB truck for the ride back to downtown.

15:30

The room is packed. The entire 50-person staff of the WCB present in Yellowknife has showed up at 3:30 on a Friday afternoon to meet Heather Crowe. The air in the room is electric. Penny introduces Heather: “I want you meet a genuine Canadian hero, Heather Crowe.” And we all agree. Heather is nothing short of heroic.

Heather smiles and begins. She praises the hospital for the excellent care and attention that she received. She tells us that, in addition to lung cancer, she now has pneumonia. “Not to worry, though,” she says, making light of serious health problems. “It’s just the early stages of pneumonia and I have a prescription for some antibiotics.”

Now she launches into the story of her trials and tribulations during the past year and the purpose of her trip. When she finishes, there are few dry eyes in the room.

A lively question-and-answer session follows. WCB staff, most of whom do not work on tobacco issues, are now all engaged in thinking about this issue, and what the WCB can do to address it.

Margaret and Penny explain that the WCB is already addressing workplace smoking issues. WCB officers seek to resolve workplace smoking issues under the authority of the general duty clause in the Safety Act. Of course, they would prefer to have a more specific regulation (It’s in the works!), but in the absence of that, they do not duck their responsibility; they do the best they can. This is level of responsibility unmatched in any other Canadian jurisdiction. All the rest of them just duck. Good for you Margaret! Good for you Penny! And good for the rest of the WCB too.

20:30

Our formal programme in Yellowknife is completed. Heather had a good rest and is having dinner in the hotel with Ginny Lovell. Ron, Nancy and I had dinner at Bullock’s (Great Slave Lake ling cod – delicious!). Now we are walking back to their house on Otto Drive. Someone throws a switch and turns on an impressive Northern Light show for us. A spiral of light starts in the northern sky, unfurling in the south. It is ever moving, ever changing. Now green lasers of light dance vertically off the unfurling spiral, all the while the whole spiral moving and changing shape. We look for more displays later that night, but there are none. Only one to a customer.

Saturday, March 15, 2003

08:00

Heather most certainly has pneumonia. She has the characteristic deep cough that makes her ribs ache. But she will not be shaken from the opportunity to fly out to see the caribou. We are scheduled to fly at 2 p.m. with Air Tindi. At breakfast she feels pain when she coughs, and I feel it too. More undeserved punishment for Heather for the crime of breathing other people’s tobacco smoke. Heather rests until it is time to fly out to the caribou, and I catch up on my writing.

14:00

We are on our way out to see the caribou with Air Tindi, ten of us, in a sturdy northern workhorse, a single engine turbo de Havilland Otter fitted with skis and built in 1956. Heather is beaming. She is the co-pilot’s seat with the headphones on, beside pilot Darren. Andrew and his two-and-a-half year old son are on board; so are Miriam and her little guy. We also have me, Herb with his camera, Margaret and passenger number nine, Nancy Cymbalisty.

We fly low following the ice road and waving at the trucks on their way along Gordon Lake to the diamond mine. Now we leave the ice road and head north-north-east. We fly for about 45 minutes. First we see signs of caribou. Tracks. Lotsa tracks in the bush and on the lakes. And then we see the caribou spread out over several neighbouring lakes – hundreds of them, mostly lying down, sunbathing at -40C. We circle around them for a while and then Darren lands on the edge of a small herd on a nameless lake. The caribou move away from the airplane as it lands, but they only go a short distance. We scramble onto the ice and enjoy about 15 minutes of observing on the edge of the caribou herd. Miriam’s son ventures out to get a closer look at them. Soon three caribou venture towards young Master Wideman, to get a closer look at him. For a brief period, Heather’s cares and aches and pains have abated. She is beaming and marvelling at the wonder of nature before her. And readers can too.

We say goodbye to the caribou and head back to Yellowknife. As we leave the plane, Darren says to Heather, “I really believe in what you’re doing. It’s courageous and it’s important, and it’s been a pleasure and honour for me to show you the caribou.”

17:00

Heather heads back to the Explorer for more rest and I head over Nancy and Ron’s for dinner with them and friends Tony and Marjorie.

Previously, Ron had threatened not to feed me if I failed to come back with good information on the location of the caribou herd. On pain of certain starvation, I dutifully give my report— “between Gordon and Brown Lakes, 8-10 miles east of the ice road, and about a 45-minute flight from Yellowknife. Ron frowns. To get there by land, that would be a three-hour drive up the ice road. More time would be needed to find the caribou by skidoo. Add to that the time to bag a couple, dress them and return. It all adds up to too much time for a one -day hunting trip. There will be no caribou hunt for Ron this year.

We sit down to a delicious meal of caribou chili. There is good-natured banter over supper. “I can’t believe you went all the way up there and came back empty-handed. No caribou! You should have bagged a couple, loaded them on the plane and brought them back for us,” says Ron. “Yeah, eh,” chimes in Marjorie. “Our freezers are getting empty, don’tcha know. Whatsa matter with you people – too squeamish?”

I look forward to a full day of cross-country skiing tomorrow.

Sunday, March 16, 2003

10:30

Sunday is a day of rest and recreation. Rest for Heather and recreation for me. Herb has to take some of footage of Heather at the museum. Miriam and Margaret have promised to keep an eye on her—to make sure she rests, right up until 3:45 when it’s time to go to the airport. Heather’s legs are bothering her, she feels her mind a little scrambled, and when she has a pneumonia cough, her ribs ache. And, as always, any exertion leaves her short of breath. Heather knows we have a big day tomorrow and is more than grateful for the rest.

Miriam and Margaret take her for a late breakfast at Mary’s Tea Room, and then it’s off to the museum for some more filming. Sandra from Pido interviews Heather, while Herb films. Heather is not happy with her performance. “My mind was wandering, I couldn’t think straight, and I couldn’t say what I wanted to say,” she reports later. Perhaps she was only very good, instead of her usual standard of excellent. Interview over, it’s back to the hotel for Heather for some serious resting.

Meanwhile, it’s my day off, and Ron and Nancy and their friends Tony and Marjorie Lehman and I are out for a day of cross-country skiing. Tour leader is Hudson, the Cymbalisty family dog. It’s a perfect day—newly fallen snow, cloudy, -15C, little wind. We head out in the direction of Martin Lake from a point just off a side road off the Ingraham Trail, just past the ghost mill of the Giant Gold Mine.

We ski out for about 1.5 hours, sometimes on snowmobile trails, sometimes breaking trail in fresh snow. We find a suitable sheltered spot on a small lake and build a fire against a shore rock. Smoked caribou sausages over an open fire. Life is good. Shore lunch over, we smother the fire (just as the rock starts radiating some real heat) and head back. On the way back, Hudson’s tail starts dragging and he loses his place as tour leader.

16:00

Miriam, Margaret, Herb, Sandra, Nancy, Ron, Heather and I all meet at the airport. Just before we leave, Miriam draws me aside and relates the story of trying to pay Heather an honorarium. Heather politely, but firmly refused. “You have all been too kind to me already. I couldn’t possibly accept payment. Remember, it’s not about money. It’s about protecting people’s health and making sure we do the right thing for the children. The children are our future.”

Final farewells are said. Heather and I are on our way to Edmonton.

19:00

Andrea Kuhlmann and Tamara Jonson Shepherd greet us warmly at the Edmonton Airport in the middle of a snowstorm. Tamara drives us carefully through the storm to the city.

The Sheraton Grande Hotel, with some encouragement from the Lung Association is underwriting the cost of our stay at the hotel, and Heather gets the royal treatment. A hospitality suite adjoins her room. She will meet some reporters there. Tomorrow, she will also meet Barbara Tarbox.

At dinner, the four of us are joined by Les Hagen and Tracy Bertsch, President of the Alberta Lung Association. We have a full and interesting schedule tomorrow. Andrea and Tamara have thoughtfully arranged things so that all the morning meetings are in the hotel.

Tomorrow promises to be a full and dramatic day.

Monday, March 17, 2003

07:30

Heather, Tracy, Pat and I arrive for breakfast in room 1901, the hospitality suite and go over the full agenda for the day.

Heather and I said goodbye to Herb in Yellowknife. Now we say hello to Deejay, the cameraman that ALA has hired to film the day’s events. He arrives about 8:00 and starts setting up.

08:30

Rita from Alberta Venture arrives. Deejay films the entire interview. Rita conducts a good, sympathetic interview. We know she will write a good story. But will her editors choose to print it? Many of the readers of Alberta Venture are the local bar and restaurant owners who seem determined to go on killing waitresses with the tobacco smoke in their establishments.

10:00

News conference time. This is a big deal. Tamara has done a good job hustling up the media. CTV, CBC-TV and Global Television are here. So are the Edmonton Journal and several radio stations. Tracy speaks, representing the Alberta Lung Association very well. I speak. Thanks to Tracy and the ALA. Thanks to the Sheraton for sponsoring our stay. Then I talk about Heather. “Heather brought you your coffee every morning, gave you a smile and you blew smoke in her face, and after 40 years you left her a tip, a dose of lung cancer.”

Heather speaks straight from the heart, her powerful story, simply told, once again touching people deeply.

Many questions from the media. Heather answers forthrightly.

What do you think of restaurant owners who oppose controls on smoking at work? “Where I worked, business has gone up 40% since the by-law banning smoking in Ottawa bars and restaurants came in. Smoky restaurants, the kind I used to work in, are gas chambers. The owners are sending their workers in there to perish.”

What will you say to the Minister of Labour, Clint Dunford this afternoon?

“I will tell him that he is looking at the face of a dying woman. I will ask him to make Alberta 100% smoke-free, so that I can be the last person to die from lung cancer at work.” (Later, she tells Clint exactly that.)

Tracy cuts the question period short with a dramatic announcement. “Barbara Tarbox has joined us. Barb, why don’t you join us up here at the front?”

Barbara Tarbox and Heather Crowe meet for the first time in front of the television cameras.

It is moment of high drama, of an intensity rarely experienced outside the theatre. However, it is destined not to be shared with national television audiences. George Bush’s war will knock everything else off the airwaves tonight.

Barbara Tarbox, smoker, a tall former model in high heels, is now as skinny as a stick and held together with make-up. Her lung cancer is in the fourth stage. There is no fifth stage. She has become a tireless campaigner, telling her story to politicians and high-school students.

Heather Crowe, never-smoker, 5’2” former waitress in snow boots, no make-up, third-stage lung cancer, is also a tireless campaigner, spurred on by altruism, bringing her message to politicians, students and everybody else.

The two women could not be more different. Yet there they are, embracing, united in their desire to see the tobacco scourge come to an end. And doing all they can to make it happen.

Noon

After several more media interviews, we join Barbara Tarbox, local politicians, community leaders and public health workers for lunch elsewhere in the same hotel. I am seated next to the Academic Vice-President of Grant McEwen College. She used to live in Ottawa and regularly attended service club breakfasts at the Newport. I tell her to imagine Heather younger and with longer hair. The shock of recognition crosses her face. Heather used to be her waitress. Another photo-op with Barbara Tarbox. More speeches. Heather tells her story once again. Digestion is permitted. We just have to be quick about it. We have a full day. Tamara and Tracy hurry us along to the next event.

13:30

The Minister of Labour, Clint Dunford, introduces Heather from the Alberta Legislature visitor’s gallery. He reads from the bio that I had prepared, the one that fails to mention that Heather had worked in Calgary for three years. I kick myself for the omission and remind myself to make sure that he learns that when we meet him later in the afternoon.

15:00

We sandwich our appearance at the Edmonton City Council Community Services Committee in between more media interviews with the Edmonton Sun and CBC Radio (live by telephone). Both Heather and I speak at the Committee meeting, but we have the impression that the Committee only has ears for the hospitality industry goons that fill the room. Mark von Schellwitz is there, spouting the same old tired waitress-killing nonsense he has been spouting for years for his chain-pullers, the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association, and their chain-pullers, the Canadian tobacco industry.

Later, Tamara assures me that Les Hagen and others are making sure the Committee gets the health message, loud and clear. Nevertheless, the Committee is a long, long way from banning smoking in all Edmonton bars and restaurants.

17:30

Before our meeting with Clint Dunford, Heather briefly shakes hands in the hallway with Gary Mar, the Health Minister.

We are ushered into the meeting with Mr. Dunford. Tracy introduces me as Phil Collishaw. The error is quickly corrected. But now and for months and years to come, The Question will echo through the halls of the old TB sanatorium that is now home to the Alberta Lung Association. The Question will grind forever through the gossip mills of Pigeon Lake, Alberta. The Question is, “Who is Phil?”

We have a good meeting with Mr. Dunford. After the initial sparring, we get down to brass tacks. “Mr. Dunford, we have asked you to ban smoking in all Alberta workplaces by next summer. Can you agree to that?”

“You, I can say no to,” he says, pointing at me. Then he whirls, points at Heather, and concludes, “but I can’t say no to her.”

Well, we are getting somewhere. I try another parry: “After this meeting, the media will ask us what went on in here. And they will ask you, too. I think it is in everybody’s interest if we have the same story. And from what I have heard here, I think it is fair to say that you agree in principle that smoking should be banned in all Alberta workplaces, and that you are working towards such a goal. Do you agree?”

Clint looks at Tracy, and says, “Jeez, this guy’s good.” Now he turns and looks at me. “Yeah that sounds all right to me. Agreement in principle. I can live with that. I can say that.”

I try one more time. “If you can’t agree to do so by next summer, is any timeline possible?”

“No, the political climate is not welcoming enough. Gary Mar and I will work together to raise awareness of workplace health and safety and look for opportunities to make progress. But no timeline.”

OK, I understand: No timeline.

18:00

The meeting is over. Agreement in principle with no timeline doesn’t sound like much to me, but Tracy is beaming. “These guys have made enormous progress,” she says. Just a few weeks ago, tobacco wasn’t even on their radar screen. No we have agreement in principle. “Okay,” I say, “but it still isn’t much. You will have to be on his case relentlessly, reminding him of his agreement in principle, and making helpful suggestions about how to convert high-sounding principles into actual protection for waitresses.”

“We can do that,” replies Tracy, looking at her staff. They are all smiling enthusiastically. They look and act like a team. They will get the job done.

Now we split up. Tracy, Andrea and Tamara leave in one car to drive to Edmonton. Heather, Pat and I are in the other on our way to the airport for a flight to Calgary. We have a fast dish of Japanese udon noodle soup (the first for Heather) on our way to the airport and an uneventful flight to Calgary.

We fall into bed in Calgary at 10:30 PM, tired but happy, at the end of a full, dramatic and productive day.

Tuesday, March 18, 2003

07:30

Breakfast in the hotel with the ALA crew from Edmonton. We are joined by Eileen who is with the Calgary ALA office. Heather feels reasonably well today. I can tell, because she is once again talking in media bites. Here’s one: “Barbara Tarbox has been a fashion model with a glamorous career. Beside her, I feel like the little red hen. I have been scratching around in the barnyard trying to find enough to eat. When it’s already too late, I discover the barnyard is a toxic waste dump.” We review the events of the previous day. While we failed to successfully compete with war for time on the national TV news, local coverage in Edmonton was good. Heather and Barbara Tarbox are on page 3 of the city news section of the Edmonton Journal, above the fold. Tamara works invisibly, creating events that run smoothly, whole days of one event after another, the whole made of apparently seamless fabric. Already, she has a report on the outcome of our meeting with Clint Dunford incorporated into today’s news release, printed, duplicated and ready for distribution to the media.

10:30

We have a combined news conference and meeting with the Calgary folks working on tobacco control. Despite some confusion about the event’s starting time (The media were told 10 a.m., the NGOs 10:30), Tamara has sweet-talked the media into staying until 10:30 (Free coffee! Free muffins!). Media attendance is a little light, but the ones that are there (CTV, A-Channel and a few others) are very attentive. All interview Heather following the news conference. Tracy, Heather and I speak at the news conference. We are joined by Brent Friesen, the Calgary MOH.

Following the news conference, Heather and I have an opportunity to meet the local tobacco control workers. I talk to a few people; Heather talks to everyone.

I am deeply troubled by a conversation I have with Brent Friesen. It seems that Imperial Tobacco is shopping the idea of donating a significant amount of money to the Calgary Health Trust, a trust that collects and distributes money for health care improvement in Calgary hospitals. To my dismay, ITL was not immediately publicly condemned by the Trust as merchants of death trying to buy respectability for a fistful of dollars. Worse, the palliative care folks and those looking to find ways to achieve earlier cancer diagnosis are apparently at risk of succumbing to temptation and taking the money. I offer to give a stern lecture in health care ethics to whoever needs it. I also offer to send Brent some tobacco industry documents that show improving the social acceptability of smoking to be an explicit corporate mission of Imperial Tobacco.

Heather talks to everyone individually or in small groups, perhaps 30-40 people in all. She revels in the task, seeming to draw life and strength from people she is meeting for the first time, the tireless souls fighting the good fight in favour of public health in Calgary. But the reverse is true too. I look around the room at dozens of eyes that light up and sparkle as Heather tells them her story, personally. They leave with their morale boosted, filled with new energy to help make Calgary a healthier place to live.

As we stroll over to the restaurant for lunch, Heather remarks, “These people have been rowing hard upstream all their lives. I am happy to come along and be a motor on the back of the boat.”

13:30

We have one final media interview with a Canadian Press reporter from Edmonton. We are in my hotel room. Heather is on one extension and I am on the other. Tracy is coaching from the sidelines. Later, she talks to the reporter, Lisa, herself. It is a good interview. We cover federal and provincial issues and score a lot of points. The reporter is singularly unimpressed by an agreement in principle with no time limit – the nature of our agreement with Clint Dunford. “Nothing, you got air,” she challenges. Tracy and I persist. We tell her that movement from hostility in the wilderness, which is where we were just a few short weeks ago, to an agreement in principle and a willingness to move forward in a cooperative fashion, is very significant movement on the second-hand smoke issue in Alberta. And we can all count on Tracy, the ALA and the rest of the Alberta NGOs to give Clint no rest on this issue. They will bird-dog him relentlessly.

16:00

Like Heather, Pat Eldershaw found herself goin’ down the road from Nova Scotia at age 17. Now both of them are fighting to get rid of lung disease. Pat will be in the battle longer than Heather, but she will not soon forget her sister Bluenoser and sister public health warrior, Heather Crowe. We say our final goodbye to Pat in the airport. She is on a flight back to Edmonton. Heather and I are on our way back to Ottawa, our journey nearly over.

Earlier at the hotel, we had said warm goodbyes to Tracy, Andrea and Tamara as they loaded up the car to drive back to Edmonton. Hugs all around.

On the airplane, Heather chats to Pat V., her seatmate. Pat is a teacher from Prince George. She tells Heather about the problems they are having with designated smoking rooms in bars and restaurants in Prince George. Some businesses have them, and some don’t. It’s poisoning waitresses, dividing the community and creating bad feeling all around. Efforts to ban smoking entirely by means of a municipal by-law have so far proved fruitless. (Note to PSC Research Director: Check with Jack Boomer. Fix things in Prince George.)

We know that we have made good progress. We also know that tobacco cannot be controlled in Alberta in two days. It will take hard work by the Alberta folks, every single day for months and years to come. We also know that we will all meet again. One day, we will be back to provide another jolt of tobacco control energy in Alberta. For that day, we all hope and pray that Heather will be with us in body; none of us doubts for a moment that she will always be with us in spirit.

Our journey to the north and to Alberta is nearing an end. But Heather Crowe, the lady from Nova Scotia with the Micmac mother (“My nose is blue, my skin is white and my heart is red,” says Heather.) has not yet finished goin’ down the road. She has miles to go before she sleeps.