Jump to full article: Globe and Mail (ca), 2007-10-30
Author: BILL CURRY From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
Intro: A coalition of nine health and anti-smoking organizations - including the Canadian Cancer Society and the Heart and Stroke Foundation - is calling on Ottawa to overcome its "unexplained reluctance" to crack down on illicit cigarettes on native reserves.
In a letter sent this month to Revenue Minister Gordon O'Connor, the nine organizations say the tax agency's latest proposals to address the situation fall short.
The Globe and Mail reported yesterday that police seizures of contraband cigarettes have now exceeded the peak levels of 1994, when tobacco smuggling last became a major political issue.
Federal cabinet ministers have been informed that 90 per cent of the illegal, unregulated cigarettes originate from factories on the U.S. side of the Akwesasne reserve, which straddles parts of Quebec, Ontario and New York state. Organized crime then distributes the cigarettes across the country, often using native couriers.
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