The purpose of the Toolkit is to support tribes and tribal allies with a framework for public health. Together, we can work to reduce the health inequities of Native people—for the present generation and for seven generations to come.

In 2015, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe (CRST) passed the Smoke-Free Air Ordinance 77, prohibiting smoking and the use of e-cigarettes in all indoor public buildings and 50 feet from entrances to public buildings. The passing of Ordinance 77 was monumental. To date, we are aware of only four other Tribes in the U.S. that have passed comprehensive indoor smoke-free air policies.

The work to pass a smoke-free indoor air ordinance was a multi-generational grassroots effort by local advocates, led by the Canli Coalition. (Čaŋlí, pronounced CHUN-lee, is the Lakota word for commercial tobacco.) To make their experience and knowledge available to everyone, Rae O’Leary and Corrine Huber authored this toolkit for the Canli Coalition of CRST with funding provided by the South Dakota Department of Health.

The Canli Coalition’s Framework shows how interconnected community engagement, education, and policy efforts contributed to the Tribe’s successful passage of CRST Smoke-Free Air Ordinance 77.
There is no beginning or end to the framework process. Each component leads to another. You can start anywhere, but education and policy activities must include community engagement to be effective. Cultural lifeways are embedded in the framework to remind you to customize initiatives to fit your communities’ culture.

Together, we can work to reduce the health inequities of Native people—for the present generation and for seven generations to come.

In 2015, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe implemented the Smoke-Free Indoor Air Act. Four years later, the Canli Coalition is still hard at work. This video summarizes the coalition’s efforts to prevent tribal exploitation and to educate the public about the dangers of commercial tobacco.