Journey for a Tobacco-Free World

On Thursday, November 10, Airspace Action on Smoking and Health will join Occupy Victoria to draw attention to the BC Investment Management Corp.’s $346 million investment in the tobacco industry. (Read all about it at Alberta Moves to Dump Tobacco Shares.)

We will start at Victoria City Hall Centennial Square in the 1600 block of Douglas Street, at noon, and walk from there to the BCIMC office at 2940 Jutland Road. We should arrive at BCIMC about 1 PM.

Bring a placard, a drum or other musical instrument, and an imaginative costume is OK, too.

Click here for a map of the route.

On February 1, 2011, Bruce Allen broadcast an editorial about smoke-free housing on CKNW that had multiple factual errors. Errol Povah provides this podcast in response to it.

Get MP3 (4 MB | 3:48 min)

Attention: ALL MEDIA, re:

TWO PRESS CONFERENCES

The first will be on the sidewalk in front of Vancouver General Hospital (near the Main Entrance, at 855 W. 12th Ave.) at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, January 12, 2011.

The second will be on the front steps of the Parliament Buildings (in Victoria) at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 13, 2011.

For more info, please contact Errol @ 778 899-4832 or click here.

Attention: SCHOOL PRINCIPALS, COUNSELLORS, et al…especially those whose schools are within a kilometre or two of the Lougheed Highway/Hwy #7 [westbound, starting just west of Mission], Broadway, south on Oak St., Highway 99 [except the Massey Tunnel] and Highway 17, to the Tsawwassen ferry terminal…then Pat Bay Highway/Hwy #17, Blanshard St., west on Bay St. and south on Government St. to the Parliament Buildings.

Airspace Action on Smoking and Health — Canada’s leading all-volunteer anti-tobacco organization — is proud to present the

JOURNEY for a TOBACCO-FREE WORLD HOME-COMING RUN

The Home-Coming Run will cover 123 kilometres over 3 days; a total of 93 km on January 11 and 12 (on the Lower Mainland)…and the final 30 km on January 13 (on southern Vancouver Island).

School children of all ages (escorted by parents, teachers, principals, counsellors et al) are invited to come out and cheer Errol on — and even walk/run with him — as he makes his way toward the Parliament Buildings…officially marking the end of the walking/running portion of his very successful 6-month and more than 6,000 km (a marathon a day, 6 days a week) JOURNEY for a TOBACCO-FREE WORLD.

For more info, please contact Errol @ 778 899-4832 or click here.

In recognition of the successful completion of Errol Povah’s 6-month, 6,000 kilometre trans-continental Journey for a Tobacco-Free World (JTFW) — a marathon a day, 6 days a week — Airspace Action on Smoking and Health is proud to announce…

THE JTFW HOME-COMING RUN!

All the details have not yet been finalized, but we can tell you this:

The Home-Coming Run (HCR) — a total of 123 km (1 km for each Canadian killed by tobacco, each and every day) — will take place over a period of 3 days, from Tue, Jan 11 to Thu, Jan 13, 2011… MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

DAY 1

START: Tuesday, January 11, 2011… 7:30 a.m.
at the intersection of the Lougheed Highway/Hwy #7 and Nelson St. (between Silverdale and Mission, near the eastern end of a long straight stretch). Errol and his support crew will be at that intersection — rain/snow or shine — for about half an hour prior to the launch of the JTFW HCR. Since there is currently a lot of highway construction in that area, we chose #7 and Nelson because it’s a relatively big and safe area. The HCR will actually commence at 8:00 a.m., from about 0.7 km west of the #7/Nelson intersection.

FINISH: Tuesday, January 11, 2011… 5:00 p.m.
at Vancouver General Hospital, 855 W. 12th Ave., Vancouver (in front of the Main Entrance/Pattison Pavillion).

Total distance: 63 km (1 1/2 marathons)…with one very brief stop at the Terry Fox statue at the Port Coquitlam library.

DAY 2

START: Wednesday, January 12, 2011… 9:00 a.m. at VGH.

FINISH: Wednesday, January 12, 2011… 3:00 p.m. at Tsawwassen ferry terminal.

Total distance: 30 km.

DAY 3

START: Thursday, January 13, 2011… 9:00 a.m. (after catching the 7:00 a.m. sailing from Tsawwassen)
at Swartz Bay ferry terminal.

FINISH: Thursday, January 13, 2011… 2:00 p.m. at the B.C. Legislature.

Total distance: 30 km.

Anyone who has ever been touched by tobacco (virtually everyone!) is invited to come out and join Errol for any period of time at all…5 minutes, 5 hours, all day or even ALL 3 DAYS!

CORPORATE SPONSORS ARE ONCE AGAIN BEING SOUGHT, ESPECIALLY HOTELS…TO PUT ERROL (and possibly a Support Crew of 2 or 3) UP FOR THE NIGHTS OF JANUARY 10, 11, 12 AND 13 (10th, 11th + 12th in the Lower Mainland, 13th in Victoria).

Stay tuned for more details.

ATTENTION MEDIA:  Please contact Errol directly, at 778 899-4832

First, many thanks to EVERYONE who supported me and ‘the cause’; you have no idea how much I appreciate it!

Anyone who has been an anti-tobacco activist for more than 5 minutes is painfully aware of ‘disappointment’.  It’s now been 3 days since I completed the ‘run, walk or crawl’ portion of the Journey for a Tobacco-Free World (JTFW)… and the disappointment of ZERO MEDIA in New York City (NYC) is still stinging, big time.

Despite a great deal of progress (in terms of smoking bans, tobacco advertising and sponsorship bans, etc.), the carnage caused by tobacco industry products continues, virtually unfettered.  In fact, it’s getting worse… much worse!  And fast!

Forty-six years after the first U.S. Surgeon-General’s Report on the hazards of smoking — with the current annual global death toll from tobacco industry products standing at 5.4 million — the World Health Organization is predicting that that death toll will actually DOUBLE within the next 10 years, primarily as a result of the tobacco industry’s extremely successful (and ongoing, with no end in sight) ‘rape and pillage’ program in developing nations… most notably, in Africa and, as always, targeting kids in their early teens and even pre-teens (the industry’s “new recruits” and/or “replacement smokers”). Continue Reading »

Article by David Taube in the Glens Falls Post Star: From Vancouver, anti-tobacco activist walks through Glens Falls area

Errol and a different Grim Reaper at Imperial Tobacco

Remembrance Day was an extremely long day, in many wonderful ways:  I met so many anti-tobacco colleagues and supporters…most notably a group of about 40 young people who, along with about 10 adults, gave me a very loud and boisterous reception as I — accompanied by Stan Shatenstein and 8 youth (and their teacher, `M.C.`) — ran to Imperial Tobacco, where I gave the first of 4 speeches, followed by many media interviews (I don`t have a full list of media who attended, but CTV was there and 24 Hours).

A huge thank you to Heidi, Flory, Francoise (“Grim” for this event) and everyone else at the Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control, as well as Joanne, Joe and others with tobaccoinfo.ca (an incredible resource for, well, tobacco info) and so many others.  And “Merci!” to the Montreal Police Department, which provided a police officer and a police car (with red and blue lights flashing), blocking the lane that we occupied in front of Imperial Tobacco.  All in all, very impressive!

It`s late… and I`m up very early tomorrow, as I make my way toward New York with renewed enthusiasm and inspiration.

Thank you, again… ALL OF YOU!

More pictures

Press coverage in 24 Heures Montréal:

Errol arriving in Montreal

Running through the smoke

by Étienne Laberge

What would you do to convince young people not to smoke? Retired British Colombian anti-tobacco activist Errol Povah asked himself the same question before deciding he’d cross the country running from one ocean to the other to denounce the practices of the tobacco industry.

The resident of Victoria, BC has been running the equivalent of a marathon a day since May 31st just to sensitize young people not to smoke. Continue Reading »

Story by Postmedia News, published in the Vancouver Province: B.C. man’s lonely cross-country trek against tobacco nears end

The JTFW is now just a little bit east of Ottawa. Took today (Monday, October 25) off instead of my usual Wednesday so that I could meet with Burnaby/New West MP Peter Julian and the NDP Health Critic. The meeting went well, had lunch with Peter, then sat in on Question Period in the House of Commons.

I expect to be in Montreal by Saturday, Oct 30.

Will update the schedule soon.

Thanks again to everyone for your good wishes, etc.