National Non-Smoking Week: Vaping Is an Important Harm Reduction Tool to Help Canada Reach a Less Than 5% Smoking Rate by 2035
Ottawa, ON, Jan. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- During National Non-Smoking Week, the Canadian Vaping Association is calling on policymakers, public health leaders, and Canadians to recognize vaping as an important harm reduction tool in reducing smoking rates and advancing Canada’s goal of achieving a smoking prevalence of less than 5% by 2035.
National Non-Smoking Week is an annual Canadian health awareness campaign held during the third week of January. Established in 1977 by the Canadian Council for Tobacco Control, the campaign was launched at the time when Canada’s smoking rate was as high as 43%. Its primary objectives are to educate Canadians about the health risks of smoking, prevent non-smokers and youth from starting, and support people who smoke on their cessation journey. The week also includes “Weedless Wednesday”, a day that encourages people to stop smoking for 24 hours as a “first step” towards quitting.
Cigarette smoking remains the leading cause of preventable disease and death in Canada. While smoking rates have declined over the past several decades, progress has slowed in recent years, highlighting the need for a broader, evidence-based approach that meets smokers where they are.
“Harm reduction must be a central pillar of Canada’s tobacco control strategy,” said Sam Tam, President of the Canadian Vaping Association. “For adult smokers who are unable or unwilling to quit using traditional methods, vaping provides a significantly less harmful alternative to combustible cigarettes and has helped over a million Canadians move away from smoking.”
A growing body of scientific evidence shows that vaping exposes users to far fewer toxic substances than smoking and can be an effective tool for smoking cessation or substitution among adults. Jurisdictions that have embraced harm reduction strategies have seen accelerated declines in smoking rates, reinforcing the importance of keeping safer alternatives accessible to adult smokers.
The CVA stresses that protecting youth must remain a priority, while ensuring that adult smokers retain access to a wide range of effective and regulated vaping products and flavours. Recent reports from the Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth point to a sharp decline in vaping among youth (aged 12 to 17 years) to 6% in 2024—a 60% decrease from its peak in 2019 (https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/publications/healthy-living/canada-tobacco-strategy/delivering-results-advancing-canada-tobacco-strategy.html). This is great progress, and more can be done through enforcement, and factual education programs for teachers, parents, and youth such as; Health Canada’s I Quit for Me resources (https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/publications/healthy-living/i-quit-for-me-guide-youth.html).
“As we mark National Non-Smoking Week, it is essential that Canada continues to advance pragmatic, science-based policies,” Sam Tam added. “Vaping is not risk-free, but it is demonstrably less harmful than smoking. Recognizing this distinction is important if Canada is to meet the 2035 target and save lives.”
The Canadian Vaping Association urges the federal government to work collaboratively with public health experts, researchers, and stakeholders to ensure that harm reduction remains a key part of a comprehensive strategy to reduce smoking rates in Canada.
About the Canadian Vaping Association
The Canadian Vaping Association is a national, not-for-profit organization representing the interests of responsible vaping businesses and advocating for evidence-based policies that reduce the harm caused by combustible tobacco while protecting youth and non-smokers.
Sam Tam The Canadian Vaping Association stam@thecva.org
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