Smoking Rooms and Outdoor Areas: What Employers Can Do

Most employers in Canada can no longer give staff an indoor place to smoke. As of 27 October 2026, the provinces we could read allow designated rooms only in narrow settings, such as long-term care, hotel guest rooms, remote worksites and mines, and outdoor areas are allowed only within distance and buffer rules. If you manage a workplace, start with the question of which Act covers you, then check the specific exception that might apply.

Where do provinces still allow designated smoking rooms?

Jurisdiction	Rooms the law still allows
Ontario	Fully enclosed guest rooms of hotels, motels and inns designated for smoking or vaping; certain long-term care and similar facilities may build a controlled area approved and registered with the Ministry of Health or Long-Term Care.
British Columbia	Hospitals or residential care facilities only, where a designated room must meet WorkSafeBC standards; only residents and patients may use it, not staff or visitors. Health authorities are not required to provide one.
Alberta	A separate room in a group living facility for in-patients and residents, and a hotel guest room for registered guests. Each needs floor-to-ceiling walls, a ceiling and doors separating it from non-smoking areas. A group living room also needs its own ventilation.
Newfoundland and Labrador	An employer may designate enclosed smoking or e-cigarette rooms only in a remote worksite designated by regulation, an underground mining operation or a marine installation. A room normally used by non-smokers cannot qualify.
Prince Edward Island	Designated smoking rooms exist only in long-term care facilities; the workplace smoking area provision (s. 10) is repealed.
Federal workplaces	Narrow designations under the Non-smokers’ Health Regulations; see below.

Quebec, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and the territories are not covered because we could not open a page that settles the question.

What can an employer do outdoors?

Outdoor areas are not banned everywhere, but the surrounding rules decide where they can go.

• Prince Edward Island. An owner or employer may designate an outdoor area as a designated smoking area if it is a prescribed minimum distance from any entrance or outdoor air intake and the indoor non-smoking areas are fully enclosed. The distance itself is set in the regulations, which we did not read.
• British Columbia. A six-metre buffer applies around doorways, air intakes and open windows of workplaces, and owners and managers must take reasonable steps to prevent smoking and vaping in it on their property.
• Ontario. No smoking or vaping on bar and restaurant patios, or within 9 metres of them, and none within 9 metres of entrances to hospitals, psychiatric facilities, long-term care homes and independent health facilities.
• Federal workplaces. The Labour Program says the Act does not apply to an outside shelter that is not a common area and that employees need not enter for their duties, though the Canada Labour Code still requires employers to protect worker health there.

Municipal bylaws can add their own distances; see outdoor smoking bans.

What do employers have to do around a designated area?

• Sign it. Alberta’s manager must post signs saying smoking is permitted in a designated room. Newfoundland and Labrador requires signs identifying designated rooms. Federal designated areas need a visible sign, except vehicle and ship-room designations.
• Keep ashtrays where permitted. Federal designated areas must have ashtrays or non-combustible covered receptacles.
• Consult employees. A federal employer must consult the workplace committee or health and safety representative, or the employees where there is none, before designating.
• Do not force staff in. Prince Edward Island bars requiring an employee to enter a long-term care designated smoking room. Newfoundland and Labrador forbids discriminatory action against an employee acting under the Act.
• Police the rest. Alberta’s manager must not permit smoking or vaping where it is prohibited. Fines in Newfoundland and Labrador run from $500 to $5,000 for an employer, owner or operator.

What do the federal regulations allow?

Under the Non-smokers’ Health Regulations an employer can designate living accommodation set aside for workers, certain single-occupant vehicles and enclosed spaces such as crane cabs and locomotives, and some ship rooms. A 2007 amendment prohibited most of the designated rooms the Act had previously allowed, according to the Labour Program. The details are in smoking in federally regulated workplaces.

Does vaping change the answer?

Mostly not; the room rules name smoking and vaping together. See vaping at work. For the wider duties and fines, read workplace smoking laws in Canada and fines for smoking in prohibited places.

This is general information, not legal advice.