Barb Tarbox

Barb Tarbox was one of the most well-known anti-smoking activists in Canada; a life-long smoker dying of brain and lung cancers whose very open and frank discussions of her illness, its cause and its consequences, propelled her to the Canadian National Stage. During the last months of Tarbox's life she went around Canada teaching young adults the consequences of smoking. Perhaps the most memorable, she emphasized how she was unable to quit smoking even after she found out that she had cancer.

Barb Tarbox was compared by the Mayor of Edmonton to Terry Fox, another great Canadian.

Barb Tarbox passed away on May 18, 2003.

On December 1st, 2003, Her Excellency, The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, Governor General of Canada, announced that Barb Tarbox had been awarded the Meritorious Service Medal of Canada for her devotion to the anti-smoking cause. Due to Ms. Tarbox's sad and untimely death in May of 2003, the decoration is being awarded posthumously and will be accepted by her family at the Governor General's residence, Rideau Hall, in Ottawa on December 5th, 2003.

External links

• Educational video featuring Barb