Youth Advocacy Toolkit

Protect the Next Gen

A Youth Advocacy Toolkit for Nicotine Policy Change
Student with megaphone

Advocacy begins with youth.

This toolkit was created by two Master of Public Health students who believe that advocacy begins with youth. We hope this information will inspire you to help make your community healthier.
“Young people should be at the heart of decisions that impact their lives and health.” — World Health Organization1

Your health. Your future.

Don’t let the vape industry take away your choices. Youth deserve to change the conversation. It’s time to push back.
The problem

What’s the deal with vaping?

Youth vaping rates in Canada are high.2 This means that more youth are at risk of becoming addicted to nicotine. In the past year, 15% of Hamilton youth (grades 9-12) vaped, with 87% vaping nicotine.3 The tobacco industry targets youth. They make fruit flavoured vapes, use bright colours on packaging, and create discreet designs that appeal to youth.4

15%

of Hamilton youth (grades 9-12) vaped in the past year3

87%

of those youth were vaping nicotine3
Why policy matters

Background Information

Education and awareness are the first steps to understanding the dangers of vaping. However, policies allow for greater, longer-lasting change. Policies protect youth and can help make healthier choices easier!
Flip card

What is a policy?

Hover or tap to flip  ↻
What is a policy?
  • Public health policies are sets of laws, rules, and actions that help to improve the conditions in which people live.5
  • Many policies have been successful in protecting people from harms (like banning vaping on school properties). See the success stories below.
  • In Canada, policies can occur at the federal, provincial and municipal government levels, as well as within organizations.
  • For more information take a look: Introduction to policy - Canada.ca
“ Almost all government policies and decisions have an impact on young people’s lives and youth have the right to influence these decisions, both individually and collectively. — Government of Canada6
Proof it works

Successful Policies

Ontario · 2006

Indoor Smoking

Hover or tap to flip  ↻
Indoor Smoking The Smoke-Free Ontario Act (SFOA) came into effect in May 2006. This banned smoking in all enclosed workplaces and public spaces. The result? 99% of indoor spaces became smoke-free. This reduced the number of people exposed to second-hand smoke, and decreased overall tobacco use in Ontario.7
Ontario · 2017-2018

Smoke-Free Campuses

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Smoke-Free Campuses The SFOA was updated in 2017. The law expanded smoke-free bans to more indoor areas, including schools.8 In 2018, McMaster University in Hamilton became the first 100% smoke/vape-free university campus in Ontario.9 Smoke-free campuses protect people from exposure to second-hand smoke/vape, discourage nicotine use, and inspire people to make healthier choices!10,11
Take a stand

What to advocate for?

Click the examples below to get started.
Pop-art illustration of a hand holding a megaphone with a "Speak Up" burst, speech bubbles and raised hands

Age 21+ Policy

Background Information

  • In Ontario, the legal age to buy nicotine products is 19.12
  • PEI is the only province in Canada that has raised the minimum nicotine purchase age to 21.
  • To see the minimum age in all provinces and territories, click here.

Key Messages

The minimum age to buy nicotine products should be raised to age 21. This may reduce youth vaping by:13
  • Creating new social norms and making vaping appear less “normal.”
  • Reducing youth access to vapes from older friends and siblings (social supply).
  • Preventing or delaying nicotine use. The earlier a person tries nicotine for the first time, the harder they will find it to quit later in life.

78%

of Hamilton youth support raising the minimum age to 21 to buy nicotine products (2026 polling).
Policy Option Increase the minimum purchase age for nicotine to age 21. A federal level decision will have a bigger impact on youth vaping than if each individual province and territory makes their own policies.
Case Study

PEI: Age 21 Policy

  • In 2020, PEI increased the nicotine purchase age to 21 because youth vaping had increased by 50% since 2015.14
  • The result? Past-30 day vaping among PEI youth decreased from 30% (before the policy) to 20% (one year after the policy).15,16

Flavour-Ban Policy

Background Information

  • The tobacco industry introduced flavours like fruit and cotton candy to hook youth.17 Most vapes with flavours contain nicotine, a highly addictive chemical.18
  • Flavours are attracting a new generation of nicotine users.19,20 Most youth in Canada (and Hamilton) who currently vape have never smoked tobacco cigarettes before.19
  • “Research shows that flavours influence user satisfaction, willingness to initiate use, perception of harm, intention to quit, as well as the level of nicotine exposure.”20 This makes the flavours in vapes super dangerous to youth!
  • In Ontario, flavours are only allowed to be sold in Specialty Vape Stores (not in convenience stores or gas stations).
“Eliminating inviting flavours from vaping products is essential to protecting kids’ lungs.” — Canadian Lung Association18

Key Messages

  • Flavoured vape products are designed to attract youth and make it seem more fun to vape. Most youth who vape choose fruit flavours.21,22
  • Preventing youth from vaping is more effective than letting addiction develop and dealing with the physical and mental impacts later.
  • To protect youth, flavoured vapes should be banned.

76%

of Hamilton youth support a flavour ban (2026 polling).
Policy Option Ban the sale of all flavoured vape products in Canada (complete flavour ban). Data shows that complete bans (all flavours banned) and partial bans (flavours in specific stores only) both reduce the prevalence of youth vaping, compared to no flavour restrictions.22 Complete bans are more effective at reducing vaping and promoting quitting.22 A Canada-wide ban on the sale of all flavours would be most effective to prevent cross-border or online sales. To see which provinces and territories have flavour bans, click here.
Case Study

Quebec: Flavour Ban

  • Increasing vaping rates led Quebec to ban vape flavours in 2023.23
  • One month after the ban, vape sales were cut in half ($4.6 million to $2.3 million).24
  • The number of youth who used vapes in the past 30 days decreased from 20% (before the ban in 2022) to 13% (after the ban in 2024).25

Smoke-Free Generation

Background Information

  • Smoke-Free Generation is a policy that would prevent individuals born after a specific date from being able to buy nicotine products.
  • Over time, it would reduce nicotine use and secondhand smoke/vape exposure!
  • Smoke-free generation policies have been recommended by health experts in Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.26
  • Check out: NLHA Smoke Free Generation Lung Health Foundation

Key Message

  • A smoke-free generation policy protects youth. Since they cannot buy nicotine products, it prevents them from becoming addicted.
Policy Option Implement a smoke-free generation policy across Canada. Preventing the sale of nicotine products to anyone born after a certain year will help create a generation of people who can never legally buy cigarettes or vapes.
Case Study

Maldives: Smoke-Free Generation

  • In 2025, the Maldives became the first country in the world to ban the sale of tobacco and nicotine products to anyone born on or after January 1st, 2007.27
  • This means the next generation will never be able to legally access nicotine products in their lifetime. Reducing health risks is a major win!

References
  1. WHO Youth Council
  2. Vaping in Canada: What we know - Canada.ca
  3. Drug Use Trend Report 2025 - OSDUHS (CAMH)
  4. 4 marketing tactics e-cigarette companies use to target youth - Truth Initiative
  5. Policy Development | Public Health Ontario
  6. Canada’s Youth Policy - Canada.ca
  7. Smoke-Free Ontario - Actions and Health Effects | Ontario Newsroom
  8. Smoking and vaping | ontario.ca
  9. Smoke-Free Campus - McMaster University Faculty of Health Sciences
  10. University & College 100% Smoke-Free Campus National Report 2022 - Canadian Cancer Society
  11. Research Rationale for Smoke-Free Campus - University of Guelph
  12. Rules for selling tobacco and vapour products | ontario.ca
  13. Briefing note: Tobacco 21 laws and their impact on youth smoking and vaping - Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada
  14. Vaping laws - Government of Prince Edward Island
  15. Detailed tables for the Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey 2018-2019 - Canada.ca
  16. Detailed tables for the Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey 2021-2022 - Canada.ca
  17. The science of flavour in tobacco products - PMC
  18. Vaping: Learn the Facts | Canadian Lung Association
  19. Canadian Alcohol and Drugs Survey (CADS): summary of results for 2023 - Canada.ca
  20. Vaping crisis position statement - Heart & Stroke
  21. Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine Survey (CTNS): summary of results for 2021 - Canada.ca
  22. Provincial e-cigarette flavour policies and vaping behaviour among Canadian youth: Findings from the ITC Youth Tobacco and Vaping Survey (January 2026)
  23. Quebec’s ban on sale of flavoured vapes is now in effect. Here is what you need to know | Globalnews.ca
  24. Vaping use among Quebec youth twice that of adults: INSPQ | CityNews Montreal
  25. Vaping among youth in Québec, 2022-2024: Findings from the ITC Youth & Young Adult Survey
  26. A “smoke-free generation” in Canada? New analysis says it would result in vast health gains, healthcare cost savings | uOttawa Faculty of Medicine
  27. Ethical, sociocultural, public health and global implications of the Maldives generational tobacco ban | Discover Public Health
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