Ontario is asking for Ottawa's help to look into billboards advertising cigarettes posted on a highway leading to the Six Nations' reserve near Caledonia.Ontario is asking for Ottawa's help to look into billboards advertising cigarettes posted on a highway leading to the Six Nations' reserve near Caledonia.

There are large signs on and off the Six Nations reserve advertising cigarettes, including one portraying a smiling bull with a feather between his horns, having a smoke.

Premier Dalton McGuinty says Ontario's Ministry of Transportation is taking a look to see if the signs violate a provincial ban on tobacco advertising.

And he says if the billboards break the law, then the ministry "will be taking action.''

Health Promotion Minister Jim Watson says the Smoke Free Ontario Act's ban on cigarette advertising does not apply to aboriginal reserves, which are a federal responsibility.

So Ontario has written Health Minister Tony Clement saying the Six Nations' billboards are clearly in violation of the federal law and asking him to investigate.

Watson is also upset that one billboard shows a cartoon bull smoking a cigarette, saying that's exactly the kind of youth-oriented advertising the ban is meant to eliminate.

He says the province is also talking with native leaders to enlist their help in fighting tobacco use, especially among young aboriginals.