I stood at the back of the classroom, watching teenagers share vape pens between classes at an East Vancouver high school. The sweet scent of blue raspberry and mango lingered in the air. A 15-year-old with braces caught my eye and quickly tucked something into her pocket.
“It tastes like candy,” she told me later, after I explained I was a journalist. “My parents don’t even know I vape. They think it’s just something people do at parties.”
This scene has become increasingly common across Canadian schools, where youth vaping rates have soared despite health warnings. Now, a coalition of health organizations is renewing calls for the federal government to finally implement a comprehensive ban on flavoured vaping products, arguing that enticing flavours are a key driver of youth addiction.
The Canadian Cancer Society, Canadian Lung Association, and Heart & Stroke Foundation joined forces last week to urge Health Canada to move forward with regulations first proposed in 2021 that would restrict most flavours, leaving only tobacco, mint and menthol as options for consumers.
“We’ve been waiting for over three years,” says Rob Cunningham, senior policy analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society. “Every day of delay is another day that kids are being recruited to nicotine addiction through these flavoured products.”
While walking through a convenience store in downtown Vancouver last month, I counted 27 different flavours of disposable vapes, from “blue razz ice” to “strawberry watermelon” and “peach mango.” The colourful packaging and fruit imagery seemed designed to appeal to younger consumers, despite regulations prohibiting marketing to youth.
The push comes amid growing evidence of vaping’s health impacts. Research published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that youth who vape are four times more likely to start smoking traditional cigarettes. Meanwhile, physicians across the country report seeing teenagers with respiratory issues potentially linked to vaping.
Dr. Erin Beardsmore, a respirologist at BC Children’s Hospital, told me she’s treated patients as young as 13 with unexplained breathing difficulties whose only risk factor was vaping.
“Some of these kids are vaping the equivalent of a pack of cigarettes a day in nicotine, but they have no idea,” she explained as we walked through the hospital’s pulmonary function lab. “The flavours mask the harshness, making it easier to inhale deeply and continuously.”
Industry representatives counter that flavours help adult smokers transition away from more harmful combustible cigarettes. The Canadian Vaping Association has argued that a flavour ban would drive consumers to the black market or back to smoking.
“Adult ex-smokers consistently report that flavours were crucial to their successful quit attempt,” says Samuel Tam, president of the association. “Removing flavours could harm public health by eliminating an effective harm reduction tool.”
However, data from Statistics Canada shows that while 4% of Canadians aged 20 and older report vaping regularly, that number jumps to 13% among those aged 15-19. Health Canada’s own research indicates that fruit and dessert flavours are particularly popular among young users.
In the coastal community of Prince Rupert, I met Tracy Wilson, an Indigenous youth counsellor who has watched vaping spread through her community.
“Our young people are being targeted,” Wilson said as we sat in her office adorned with traditional artwork. “Companies know exactly what they’re doing with these flavours. It’s reminiscent of how tobacco was marketed to Indigenous communities historically.”
Several provinces haven’t waited for federal action. Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Northwest Territories have already implemented provincial flavour bans, while British Columbia restricts higher-nicotine products to adult-only shops.
After implementing its ban in 2020, Nova Scotia saw youth vaping rates decline significantly according to provincial health officials, though cross-border purchasing and black market sales have emerged as challenges.
The federal government’s proposed regulations would still allow mint, menthol and tobacco flavours, which health advocates argue doesn’t go far enough. They point to evidence from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration showing that when certain flavours are banned, youth simply switch to whatever remains available.
During a recent visit to a vape shop in Vancouver’s Commercial Drive neighborhood, I spoke with Raj Dhaliwal, who’s owned the business for six years. He showed me a wall of flavoured products that would potentially disappear under the proposed regulations.
“We already check ID religiously and educate our customers,” Dhaliwal said, visibly frustrated. “Instead of banning flavours that help smokers quit, why not enforce existing age restrictions better? It feels like we’re being punished for others’ failures.”
Behind the debate lies a complex regulatory landscape. Health Canada has jurisdiction over product standards, while provinces control how products are sold. This patchwork approach has created inconsistencies across the country.
For Dr. Nicholas Chadi, a pediatrician and addiction specialist at CHU Sainte-Justine in Montreal, the health evidence is clear.
“Young developing brains are particularly vulnerable to nicotine addiction,” he explained during our phone conversation. “The concentration of nicotine in today’s products is alarming, and the flavours make that addictive substance more palatable and appealing.”
Back at the Vancouver high school, I asked the teen with braces if a flavour ban would affect her vaping habits.
“Probably,” she admitted after thinking for a moment. “I tried my brother’s tobacco-flavoured one once. It was gross.”
As health groups renew their push for federal action, the question remains whether Canada will follow countries like Denmark and Finland that have already implemented comprehensive flavour restrictions, or continue with the current regulatory approach that many health advocates argue isn’t protecting youth effectively.
For the teenagers I met sharing fruit-flavoured vapes between classes, the decisions made in Ottawa feel distant. But the health implications of those policy choices may follow them for decades to come.
