Keeping the sacred in tobacco

The Needs Assessment Surveys were subsequently reviewed and a toolkit was developed to address the needs of the NNADAP workers in the area of tobacco cessation. [...] The Europeans first contact with tobacco in the Americas happened on October 12, 1492, the day Columbus first bumped into Turtle Island (the Americas).* As Columbus and his crew raised the flag of Spain to claim possession of what is now known as the Americas, in the name of Ferdinand and Isabella, the king and queen of Spain, the Indigenous people presented them with gifts of welcome to their ter [...] As more and more sailors and merchants came into the Americas, tobacco became more popular and within a century the use of tobacco had spread to every part of the world. [...] After colonization, the signing of treaties, and the Indian Act the Canadian government banned traditional ceremonies and this made it virtually impossible for the passing down of the traditional ways of growing and using ceremonial tobacco. [...] The group facilitator is to stand in the middle of the circle and explain to the participants that he/she will ask one of them the question Do you love your neighbour?