Municipal Bylaws

A bylaw is essentially a law that applies locally, and that must be approved by a majority of council members within the limits granted by the province under enabling legislation. The thrust for smoking restrictions began at the municipal level in the early 1970s, with non-smokers beginning to speak up about the right to breathe clean air. History has demonstrated that legislation governing SHS is dynamic, and evolves slowly over time reflecting current knowledge, concern and public opinion. Search our database of smoke-free laws. Some of Canada’s earliest smoking restrictions were quite modest in scope and were based more on irritation and discomfort than a serious attempt to protect people’s health. In 1976 Ottawa was the first city to pass an antismoking by-law, and the main advocate behind the campaign recalls how she was ridiculed by some people as needing “psychological help.” However, it did not take long for other cities to pass similar by-laws. Toronto followed suit in 1979 with a by-law restricting smoking in several public places, including retail shops, hospitals, elevators, escalators and public gathering areas. A major factor driving the movement to restrict smoking has been the increasing knowledge about the dangers of SHS. In 2004 when the NSRA began tracking smoke-free bylaws, provinces and territories were only just beginning to pass comprehensive smoke-free legislation. As such, it was important to categorize bylaws as bronze, silver or gold to ascertain the level of protection they offered. Now that all provinces and territories have what is considered gold standard legislation for enclosed workplaces and public places, a gold standard bylaw does not carry the importance it once did. However, regardless of new and stronger provincial and territorial legislation, municipalities continue to amend their bylaws to further protect their citizens from second-hand smoke indoors and out.