Heather Crowe (April 23, 1945,

Yarmouth, Nova Scotia Yarmouth is a town in southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada. A port town, industries include fishing, and tourism. It is the terminus of a ferry service to Bar Harbor, Maine, run by Bay Ferries. History Originally inhabited by the Mi'kmaq, the regi ...

– May 22, 2006,

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

waitress who became the public face of Canada's anti-smoking campaign. Crowe was diagnosed with

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

in 2002. She said that she had "never smoked a day in her life", and believed her cancer to be the result of regularly breathing

second-hand smoke Passive smoking is the inhalation of tobacco smoke, called secondhand smoke (SHS), or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), by persons other than the intended "active" smoker. It occurs when tobacco smoke enters an environment, causing its inhalat ...

at her workplace, Moe's Newport Restaurant, for over forty years. In 2002, she submitted a successful claim related to second-hand smoke exposure in the workplace to the Ontario

Workplace Safety & Insurance Board The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB; french: Commission de la sécurité professionnelle et de l'assurance contre les accidents du travail, CSPAAT) is the workplace compensation board for provincially regulated workplaces in Ontario ...

for lost earnings and health care benefits. Based on her $12,000 salary, WSIB awarded her $200 a week, $4,000 a year to help with medical expenses and a one-time payment of $40,000 for pain and suffering. Shortly before Christmas, 2003, WSIB ordered the 59-year-old Crowe, still undergoing

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...

and

radiation therapy Radiation therapy or radiotherapy, often abbreviated RT, RTx, or XRT, is a therapy using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of cancer treatment to control or kill malignant cells and normally delivered by a linear accelerator. Radia ...

, back to work. Following Crowe's lobbying campaign, the province of

passed an anti-smoking bill which banned smoking in all indoor public spaces and near the entrances of government buildings. The law came into effect four days after Crowe's death in 2006.Obituary on CTV News
ctv.ca; accessed May 11, 2014.

References

External links

Ottawa Mourns; National PostHeather Crowe Campaign (Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crowe, Heather 1945 births 2006 deaths Canadian activists Canadian people of Ulster-Scottish descent Deaths from cancer in Ontario Deaths from lung cancer in Canada Activists from Nova Scotia People from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia Restaurant staff Smoking in Canada Canadian women activists

See also

References

External links