Actors can smoke on stage, Quebec Court of Appeal rules

Quebec’s Court of Appeal has ruled that theatre actors can smoke on stage during performances, finding the practice can be protected as artistic expression.

The province’s highest court upheld a lower court decision that had struck down fines issued to three theatres for allowing performers to smoke during plays.

In her ruling, Justice Judith Harvie found that the harm caused to freedom of expression by banning an actor from smoking during a theatrical performance outweighed any benefits provided by forbidding it.

“No one argues that staff or the public should be allowed to smoke for personal purposes in a place where cultural or artistic activities are presented,” the judge said in her ruling.

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The case stems from fines issued under Quebec’s tobacco control law, which bans smoking in enclosed public spaces, including cultural venues.

The ruling says the act of smoking in a theatrical context can carry expressive content and form part of a broader artistic message.

The government had appealed a Superior Court decision striking down $500 fines issued between 2017 and 2019 to three theatres in Quebec City: Théâtre du Trident, Théâtre de la Bordée and Théâtre Premier Acte.

The Superior Court argued that the smoking ban was justified because there is “no safe exposure threshold for second-hand smoke in enclosed spaces.”

Judge Harvie, however, found that the exposure to second-hand smoke during a show would be limited.