Smoking & Second Hand Smoke

Protecting you and your family from the harms of smoking

Tobacco is one of the biggest public health threats worldwide today and a leading cause of preventable life-threatening illnesses. We also now know that all forms of tobacco are harmful and that there's no safe level of exposure.

Smoking causes more than two dozen diseases and health conditions, including different types of cancers, heart and lung disease, stroke, diabetes and respiratory issues.

What's even riskier is inhaling second-hand smoke (including smoke from the burning end of a cigarette), which contains more harmful chemicals than the smoke inhaled by the smoker.

Exposure to second-hand smoke may cause severe illnesses in children, including sudden infant death syndrome, pneumonia, bronchitis and asthma. In women, it can cause pregnancy-related complications.

Countless cigarette butts are tossed into the environment every day. The filters are made of cellulose acetate, a type of plastic, and also contain the nicotine and other chemicals they have absorbed.

Not only do they block plant growth, the filters get into our waterways and oceans, harming marine life.

Smoke-free Burnaby

The City of Burnaby is committed to protecting you from the harms of second-hand smoking.

On September 20, 2021, City Council approved a new smoking regulation bylaw, effective January 1, 2022, that restricts smoking cigarettes, tobacco, cannabis, e-cigarettes and vape products in public parks, city-owned or controlled outdoor public spaces, and some business premises.

This bylaw creates more smoke-free areas, reducing smoking in our city, helping people quit and providing a clean, healthy and safe environment for everyone.

Public spaces:

Lands and facilities owned or leased by the City and used for public or civic purposes, except for designated smoking areas.
All City parks and multi-use paths.
Bicycle lanes, boulevards, crosswalks, sidewalks, walkways, rights of way and other public spaces or passageways next to a City park or commercial, institutional or assembly-use property. Assembly-use properties include such places as schools, places of worship, theatres or similar institutions.
Within 6 metres of any public transit facility, including transit stations, bus stops, shelters, benches, poles and signage.

Business premises:

Any enclosed or substantially enclosed area of a business premise that's a workplace or open to the public.
Any partially enclosed or unenclosed customer service area serving food or beverages on-site (e.g. patios, balconies and terraces).

Exceptions to the bylaw:

Aboriginal ceremonial use or smoking of tobacco or other substances, with City's permission.
Smoking during a movie production, theatrical or other artistic performance, with City's permission.
Smoking hookah, except tobacco and cannabis, in business premises that existed with a valid business licence before the bylaw's adoption.
Business within a residential dwelling that isn't open to the public and only with the worker(s) living in the property (e.g. self-employed home-based businesses)
Hotel and motel rooms that are designated as smoking rooms.