The main objective of the Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine Survey is to gather information about the prevalence of cigarette smoking, vaping, and cannabis use.
Understanding Canadian trends in tobacco, nicotine, cannabis, and alcohol use is vital to the effective development, implementation and evaluation of national and provincial strategies, policies and programs.
Your information may also be used by Statistics Canada for other statistical and research purposes. In addition, information from partially completed or unsaved questionnaires may be retained and used.
Collection period:
From November 30, 2022 to January 31, 2023
Collection methods:
Electronic questionnaire and telephone follow-up for non-response
Survey participation:
Although voluntary, your participation is important so that the information collected is as accurate and complete as possible.
Confidentiality
Data are collected under the authority of the Statistics Act, Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, Chapter S-19. Your information will be kept strictly confidential.
Data sharing agreements and record linkage
To enhance the data from this survey and to reduce the reporting burden, Statistics Canada may combine the information you provide with other survey or administrative data sources.
Topics covered in the survey
The survey asks questions about
- cigarette smoking
- vaping
- cannabis use.
Published data
Statistics Canada publishes the results of its surveys in many formats. To find all the documents related to this survey, follow the links below and type the name of the survey in the search engine located at the left of your screen to filter the results.
Data: You will find tables, profiles of a community or region, thematic maps, public use microdata files, and data visualization tools.
Analysis: You will have direct access to Stats in brief (e.g., releases from The Daily, fact sheets), articles and reports, and journals and periodicals.
Survey-specific questions
- What is the Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine Survey?
- Why should I respond to the Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine Survey?
- Should I respond to the Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine Survey even if I only smoke or vape occasionally, or not at all?
- How does this survey benefit Canadians?
- Why does Statistics Canada want to know personal information such as my gender and postal code?
- How will you safeguard the confidentiality of my information?
What is the Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine Survey?
The main objective of the Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine Survey is to gather information about the prevalence of cigarette smoking, vaping and cannabis use among Canadian adults and youth.
Why should I respond to the Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine Survey?
Your participation in the survey will provide important information that will be used by the federal government and researchers across Canada to help Canadians maintain and improve their health. What you share with us will contribute to a better understanding of Canadian trends in tobacco, nicotine and cannabis use.
For example, Health Canada is required to report on the trends and use of these substances over time. With your collaboration, we work on their behalf to produce high-quality data that can be used to inform decision-making. This information is vital to the effective development and implementation of national and provincial strategies, policies and programs that aim to reduce the harms associated with the use of these substances.
Should I respond to the Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine Survey even if I only smoke or vape occasionally, or not at all?
Absolutely. This information is just as important since it will help us to understand how many Canadians, from province to province, use and do not use these substances. In order to provide a clear picture of these behaviours in Canada, it is essential that all respondents complete the questionnaire.
How does this survey benefit Canadians?
The survey aims to shed light on the types of cannabis and tobacco products Canadians are using, how often they use them and their reasons for doing so. Among other contributions, the data collected from this survey will benefit Canadians by contributing to an understanding of issues related to the health of Canadians, to understanding the marketing of tobacco and nicotine products to youth, and to understanding links between early use and health issues later in life.
Following the release of the survey results, important data gaps related to vaping, cannabis and tobacco use will be filled. Policy makers, health researchers and other Canadians will benefit from detailed information on the use of these products.
Vaping, the act of inhaling and exhaling vapour produced by a device, is a relatively new trend in comparison to cigarette smoking. Since the questions on vaping were added into this survey, Canadians have benefitted from increased access to research findings and a greater understanding of the long-term effects of vaping.
Why does Statistics Canada want to know personal information such as my gender and postal code?
When your data reaches Statistics Canada—whether from surveys or administrative sources—some of it is used to create a demographic profile. Then, we remove personal identifiers and only retain information such as age, gender, and geographical location. This data is merged with that of other people who share the same demographic profile (for example, groupings based on the same age, gender or geographical location).
Even if questions related to personal information may seem irrelevant to the subject of the survey, they provide a deeper knowledge of respondents' characteristics, which allows us to create a representative sample of the Canadian population. By analyzing this large database, researchers are able to observe emerging patterns and trends and provide important information to governments, non-profit organizations, researchers, and the wider public.
How will you safeguard the confidentiality of my information?
As with all Statistics Canada surveys, any information provided will remain confidential pursuant to the Statistics Act. Statistics Canada takes the privacy of Canadians very seriously. Published data can never identify you or your household.
To find out more about the measures in place to safeguard the confidentiality of your information, visit Statistics Canada's Trust Centre.