Goldcorp_Porcupine_Gold_Mines_Logo_2011The provincial government is marking the 10TH anniversary of Smoke Free Ontario legislation with awards to ten anti-smoking champions. And one of the winners is Goldcorp in Timmins for its Porcupine Gold Mines Tobacco-Free Policy. The Heather Crowe Smoke-Free Ontario awards are named for an anti-smoking campaigner, who breathed in second-hand smoke for 30 years and died of lung cancer.

Aside from the terrible human toll, smoking also costs Ontario’s health care system more than two billion dollars a year directly, and another 5.3-billion dollars in indirect costs.

BACKGROUNDER

Goldcorp – Porcupine Gold Mines

  • Goldcorp Inc. is a gold-producing company and major employer in the Timmins, Ontario, and surrounding area.
  • The company is enacting their Goldcorp – Porcupine Gold Mines Tobacco-Free Policy on May 31, 2016, to help improve the health of its community and employees.
    • Goldcorp will provide occupational Health Nurses for counselling, free nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) to all employees and contractors on site, and  $300 per year per employee for additional smoking cessation measures. Prescription medication to help quit can be obtained through the employee benefits plan.
    • And, Goldcorp has partnered with the Porcupine Health Unit, which is able to provide free 1-on-1 counselling sessions and NRT at a discounted price for Goldcorp employees and their family members.

The Porcupine Health Unit will also be offering Smoking Treatment for Ontario Patients (STOP) workshops for Goldcorp family members.