Could Banff National Park Ban Cigarettes by 2028?

Seven national health and environmental organizations are urging the federal government to ban smoking and vaping in national parks by 2028, pointing to wildfire risk, public health concerns and environmental impacts.

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH Canada), along with six other organizations, sent a letter to federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Julie Dabrusin in early August calling for smoking and vaping to be banned in national parks, historic sites and conservation areas, with several exceptions.

The proposed ban would mainly apply to Parks Canada land outside of towns, including trails, trailheads and backcountry campgrounds. Exemptions would include smoking at private residences and frontcountry campsites, as well as medical cannabis use and ceremonial Indigenous tobacco use.

The letter does not explicitly address what would happen within municipalities located inside national parks.

Smoking is already banned in many public places throughout the Town of Banff, while Alberta has rules prohibiting smoking and vaping in a number of locations, including many public places and near building entrances. Jasper also bans smoking indoors and on patios, as well as smoking cannabis in public places within the town.

“Municipalities situated within national parks should be encouraged to follow the Town of Banff's example,” said Les Hagen, executive director of ASH Canada.

One of the coalition's main arguments for the ban is the risk of wildfires caused by discarded cigarettes.

According to Tomi Postma, acting public relations and communications officer with Banff National Park, the park does not track data specifically on fires started by discarded cigarettes.

However, a fire that burned next to the Trans-Canada Highway near Vermilion Lakes, west of Banff, in April 2025 was suspected to have been caused by a cigarette.

“This fire is believed to have been human-caused, potentially by the careless tossing of a cigarette,” Banff National Park said in a social media statement on April 18, 2025.

The coalition's letter also cites a University of the Fraser Valley study that collected data from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. It found that between 2012 and 2015, about 11 percent of outdoor fires were caused by smoking materials, resulting in more than $1.5 million in economic losses.

The coalition also frames the proposed ban as a public health and environmental measure.

“Commercial tobacco use is the leading avoidable cause of disease, disability and premature death in Canada,” the letter states.

It argues that discarded cigarette butts, which it describes as the most commonly littered item in Canada and worldwide, contain plastic filters and concentrated toxins and should be treated as hazardous waste.

Statistics Canada's most recent tobacco survey found 10.9 percent of Canadians aged 15 and older were current smokers in 2022, unchanged from the previous year.

Improperly disposing of cigarette butts or other smoking materials is already considered littering in national parks and is subject to enforcement by Parks Canada, according to Postma.

The coalition also points to other jurisdictions as precedent. British Columbia, Manitoba and New Brunswick have banned smoking in provincial parks, while France, Mexico, Spain and Costa Rica have implemented bans in national parks.

Hagen said the coalition has not yet asked provincial governments elsewhere in Canada to follow suit, but plans to.

“Not yet, but this is part of the plan,” he said in a written statement. “The federal government should lead the charge.”

The letter asks Ottawa to have a policy in place by 2028, preceded by a public education campaign beginning at least six months earlier. The coalition has also requested a meeting with Dabrusin to discuss next steps.