Schools urged to help prevent vaping, offer support to teens amid epidemic Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
By: Maggie Macintosh Posted: 4:58 PM CDT Tuesday, May. 6, 2025

The Manitoba Lung Association says schools must create designated corners that offer resources about the harms of vaping and help with quitting because of the alarming increase in teenage users.

High school teachers have been grappling with an influx in indoor vaping and enforcing smoke-free policies over the last decade.

More than 18 per cent of Grade 7 to 12 students in Manitoba use e-cigarettes, says Health Canada’s latest polling.

The number of youth who reported vaping within the last 30 days grew from 16.7 per cent in 2021-22 to 18.4 per cent in 2023-24.

 

“It’s never the kids’ fault. We can’t blame the children. We have to look at it with a ‘love lens’ and help kids because they are addicted,” said Hailey Coleman, a certified tobacco educator who co-ordinates health programs for the provincial lung association.

Coleman noted that schools have tried to police the “steady problem” by stationing staff outside washrooms and removing facility doors so vaping clouds and smells are more easily detected.

The solution to the epidemic, which affects individual student health and learning environments, needs to include ramping up in-school prevention and support, she said.

St. James Collegiate came under criticism in 2023 when the administration took steps to crack down on teenagers who gathered in washrooms to vape.

The measures — including removing a door from a girls washroom so stalls were visible from a hallway equipped with a ceiling security camera — sparked outrage and privacy concerns.

The principal issued an apology and the door was reinstalled.

Multiple sources told the Free Press that Collège Sturgeon Heights Collegiate has limited available bathrooms during the 2024-25 school year in a bid to deter similar behaviour.

One Grade 10 student said he has started avoiding the facilities altogether — he walks home for lunch daily — because they are hubs for vaping via weed pens and other devices.

“I don’t want to be near something that can put my life in danger or my future in danger,” said the 15-year-old, who asked that his name be withheld due to concern about backlash from his peers.

Stalls are a popular place for teenagers to privately hit their vapes, he said.

The teen noted he holds his breath when someone vapes in class — a semi-regular occurrence, given the devices are often USB-sized and easy to hide when a user exhales into their sweater when a teacher’s back is turned.

The St. James-Assiniboia School Division repeatedly denied that Sturgeon Heights washrooms have been closed for any reason other than maintenance and repairs.

Assistant superintendent Jordana Buckwold said in a statement that schools handle incidents, ranging from firsthand observations of vaping to devices clogging toilets, on a case-by-case basis.

“(Administrators) have been consistently advising and reminding students that congregate vaping in bathrooms is inappropriate, against policy, and a nuisance to other students,” Buckwold said.

She noted that students who violate rules are asked to consider reaching out to a trusted school employee for support with cessation or other resources.

The Lungs Are for Life program includes a curriculum-based vaping resource designed for Grade 5 to 12 classrooms that is free to download via the provincial lung association’s website.

Coleman said the advocacy organization is preparing to roll out a new “safe spaces” toolkit for teachers.

The initiative aims to help high schools set up a discreet area, such as in a library corner, to support student mental health and addiction recovery, with a particular focus on nicotine dependence, she said.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca