The Canadian native smokes Canada’s legal stance on native smokes is a complex tapestry of federal and provincial regulations designed to ensure that tobacco sales adhere to health standards and taxation laws. However, the indigenous cigarette industry occupies a unique niche in this regulatory environment given its sovereign rights and traditions related to the cultivation and sale of tobacco products.
The Mohawk community of Kahnawake is the most well-known Indian tobacco manufacturer, and its Kahnawake Smokes brand crowds the shelves of smoke shops on reserves across Ontario and Quebec. But smuggling, often run by mafia-style syndicates, is booming, and the cheap smokes are not only fueling smoking epidemics and costing governments billions in health care costs, but they’re also helping to fill reserve coffers.
“Dispelling Myths and Misconceptions About Native Cigarettes in Canada
According to section 87 of the Indian Act, a registered (Status) Indian may lawfully purchase cigarettes on reserve. The provincial Tobacco Tax Act and Regulations authorize the First Nations Cigarette Allocation System, which allows bands to sell cigarettes at discounted prices to members of their communities. These discounted cigarettes are not labelled, but are packaged in clear plastic bags with standard health warnings.
To examine whether potential legitimate on-reserve purchases were influencing the results, a sensitivity analysis was conducted that excluded all smokers with a claim to First Nations ancestry. This resulted in similar estimates of the adjusted predicted probability of having last purchased contraband cigarettes on reserve. Despite the fact that some on-reserve purchases might be legitimate, this sensitivity analysis showed that proximity to a reserve was not an important predictor of a smoker’s likelihood of purchasing cigarettes on reserve in both Ontario and Quebec.