Province Cancels Youth Programs
Youth prevention program cancelled by the province – The Walkerton Herald-Times
June 10, 2009
John McPhee
There will be a dramatic increase in young people smoking over the next few years, according to two local youth peer leaders.
Walkerton District Secondary School students Autumn Hachey and Nathan Wise are peer leaders in the province’s Youth Action Alliance program. Along with Luke Albert and two students at John Diefenbaker Secondary School in Hanover, they educate other youth and younger students on the dangers of smoking and other important issues such as alcohol abuse, gambling, mental and physical health.
Last week the the Grey Bruce Health Unit received notice that the program will be cancelled effective Aug. 31. And that has angered them.
“This is the stupidest decision a government could ever make,” Hachey told The WHT Monday.
“We were outraged,” Wise said in a later interview.
Both said the number of young people who take up smoking will “definitely go up” as a direct result of the program’s cancellation.
“Youth talking to youth gets the message across. They don’t listen to adults,” Hachey said, and noted the presentations she and her colleagues have done about smoking are much more popular than the “boring presentations” done in the past by health officials.
“We bring excitement and energy to the presentations, she said. “We get youth engaged.”
Wise said he believes the program makes a difference. “We reach them on an individual level. We got people knowing about how to be healthy. We got them to act.”
A busy Grade 12 student who “shuffled a few things around” including other part-time jobs and tutoring, Wise said he stayed with the program despite other responsibilities. “I wouldn’t have stayed if it didn’t work.”
A peer leader works up to 20 hours every two weeks. Wise said there is nothing to replace the program except “maybe a day spent in health class”.
The program was launched in 2005 to support youth development, prevent children and youth from starting and becoming addicted to tobacco products, and to advocate for the elimination of involuntary exposure to second-hand smoke.
The program mandate was recently expanded to promote healthy living. The cuts affect two full-time youth advisors and 20 part-time youth working in various communiti es across Grey Bruce.
“This will be a huge loss to communities across Grey Bruce where peer leaders and youth advisors have been involved in everything from advocating for smoke-free sports and recreation policies, to participating on local municipal committees promoting physical activity,” said Medical Officer of Health Dr. Hazel Lynn. “The program has been particularly effective in Grey Bruce where the large rural area and smaller communities limit job and training opportunities for youth.”
The annual high school grants program for smoking prevention was also cut, affecting 14 high schools across Grey Bruce. For almost half of the high schools in Ontario, the grant was the only tobacco control activity done in their school. It is estimated that 90 per cent of smokers start before the age of 18.
Wise said the numbers could get much worse as elementary students advance into high school.
“They are most impressionable at that age, they won’t get the message and will be pressured by their friends,” he said.
Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound Progressive Conservative MP Bill Murdoch has started a petition to save the program.
“The YAA is working for the Grey Bruce Health Unit,” he said in a news release. “The Ministry of Health Promotions is only looking at how the program has not worked in the urban areas. But it is working in rural areas.”
Huron-Bruce Liberal MPP Carol Mitchell said she, too was concerned about the cancellation of the program. “We’re working with the Ministry to see what we can do, I’m concerned too,” she said, noting that the government hasn’t developed a replacement for the program as yet. “It should have been developed first and it should have been communicated,” Mitchell said.
Hachey worries about the future for younger students without peer leaders to help them stay clear of smoking. “The tobacco industry is probably having a party,” she said.
Source: The Walkerton Herald-Times
