Edmonton city councillors are set to debate the city’s ban on shisha smoking, just two years after it was passed.
Coun. Jo-Anne Wright plans to introduce a motion at the community and public services committee meeting to ask city administration to engage with stakeholders, including Alberta Health Services (AHS), to provide a report with recommendations on whether to make changes to the bylaw.
She said she has heard concerns that the debate in 2019 did not effectively consult with the cultural communities that were impacted.
Since July 2020, shisha lounges, which allow for the smoking of herbal products through water pipes, have not been allowed to operate in the city.
There were public consultations but Edmonton Hookah Cultural Society lawyer Avnish Nanda argues specific cultural groups were not reached out to.
“It’s different from saying, ‘hey, we’re impacting your community and you may not even speak English, let’s figure out what your views are’,” Nanda explained.
“We went and we hired an engineer and we developed a modelling program and engineered a solution where none of the shisha consumed and any of the smoke that was released would be exposed to any of the staff members at any of the shisha lounges,” Nanda said, explaining that the lounges would have designated shisha smoking areas.
In April 2021, the committee voted against crafting bylaw amendments to allow shisha lounges to again operate in the city. At the time, councillors weren’t sold that proposed mitigation measures such as a ban on minors and a separate smoking area without food or drink would be enough to eliminate the impacts of secondhand smoke.
Multiple health advocates, including with Alberta Health Services, raised concerns that even without tobacco, smoking is dangerous and potentially addictive.
At the time, councillors said they wanted assurances there could be changes to ventilation to ensure there were no ill effects of the second hand smoke.
However, in an interview Monday, Wright said she has been approached by the industry about broaching the subject again as more work has been done to ensure the health and safety of those who partake in shisha as well as employees.
“I think they’ve done some extensive work and they’ve made some great strides in improving HVAC systems and separated areas that they would be willing to have in their lounges so that it is safer for everyone involved,” Wright said.
“If it had just been the same information being brought forward, I wouldn’t want to revive a debate and decisions that previous councils had made, but because there is so much work that they’ve done, I think they need the opportunity to bring that forward and, and have it relooked at.”
“They’ve done the work that was requested of them back when council debated it in ‘20 and ‘21 so I just think it’s an opportunity for them to bring back the work and try to mitigate some of the OHS concerns that AHS brought forward,” councillor Wright told Global News Friday.
