Smoking and Vaping on Halifax Municipal Property

Halifax Regional Municipality bans smoking on municipal property unless the municipality has designated a smoking area. That rule comes from By-law N-300, Respecting Nuisances and Smoking, and it reaches further than most people expect, because municipal property includes streets and sidewalks.

The rule in By-law N-300

Part 1A of the by-law is short. Section 3A(1) says no person shall smoke on municipal property. Section 3A(2) lets the chief administrative officer, or a delegate, designate a portion of municipal property as a smoking area. The by-law defines municipal property as any land the municipality owns, occupies or leases, including a street and a park.

The city’s own summary puts the same idea plainly: smoking and vaping on municipal property is permitted only within designated smoking areas, often called DSAs.

What counts as smoking

The definition is broad. Smoking means smoking, inhaling or exhaling smoke from, burning, carrying, holding or otherwise having control over a lit or heated cigarette, cigar, pipe, waterpipe, electronic cigarette or other device that burns or heats tobacco, cannabis or another substance intended to be smoked or inhaled. So a vape, a hookah and a joint all fall under the same rule as a cigarette. The municipality says all smoking and vaping, including tobacco and cannabis use, is treated the same. Its reason for a blanket approach is practical: staff cannot tell by looking which substance is in a pipe or vape.

Parks have their own by-law

Parks are also covered by By-law P-600, the Municipal Parks By-law. Section 7A(1) says no person shall smoke within the boundaries of a park. Section 7A(2) states that this does not restrict the rights of Indigenous people respecting traditional Indigenous spiritual or cultural practices or ceremonies.

How a designated area works

By default, all municipal property is considered non-smoking, including streets and sidewalks, unless a designated smoking area is marked with installed signs or stickers. Each sign shows how far that area extends. Some are permanent and some are temporary, for example for an event.

People can ask for an area to be marked through 311. The municipality assesses each request location by location. Every area has to comply with the Nova Scotia Smoke-free Places Act, and the municipality also weighs accessibility, lighting, snow clearing and how close a spot is to intersections and driveways. Apartment properties are private, so a landowner may install and maintain a smoking area on their own property.

Penalties and enforcement

A person who breaks the municipal-property rule faces a penalty of not less than $25 and not more than $2,000 for each offence, and in default of payment a jail term of up to thirty days. By-law P-600 uses the same range for smoking in a park. By-law compliance officers and Halifax Regional Police enforce the by-laws.

Private property and the province

Smoking on private property stays the property owner’s responsibility, although any smoking must still follow Nova Scotia’s Smoke-free Places Act. We did not read the provincial legislation for this page, so we do not repeat its distances or rules here. Our Nova Scotia page lists what we have confirmed.

What we could not confirm

• where each designated smoking area is (the city keeps an online map)
• any distance from doors, windows or air intakes, because we found none in By-law N-300
• whether amendments after the version we read have changed any figure

By-laws get amended, so check the current text on halifax.ca before relying on a number.

More on this topic

For how outdoor rules work across the country, see outdoor smoking bans in Canada. Typical penalty ranges are compared in fines for smoking in prohibited places. Another Atlantic city is Charlottetown, and all other cities are on the bylaw hub.