Gar Mahood was inducted as an officer of the Order of Canada for his work as a tobacco control advocate. In a leaked document, he was once called the number one global enemy of big tobacco—by the industry itself.
This is for good reason. Over decades, Mahood, with a small but talented staff, first at the Non-Smokers’ Rights Association and now at the Campaign for Justice on Tobacco Fraud, pushed governments at all levels, as well as health organizations and medical professions, to tackle the tobacco issue in Canada. Along the way, he was awarded a World Health Organization gold medal and the Canadian Cancer Society’s citation of merit for “creative and forceful leadership in the cause of cancer prevention.”
