Smoking in Canada is banned in indoor public spaces, public transit facilities and workplaces (including restaurants, bars, and casinos), by all territories and provinces, and by the federal government. As of 2010, legislation banning smoking within each of these jurisdictions is mostly consistent, despite the separate development of legislation by each jurisdiction. Notable variations between the jurisdictions include: whether, and in what circumstances ventilated smoking rooms are permitted; whether, and up to what distance away from a building is smoking banned outside of a building; and, whether smoking is banned in private vehicles occupied by children.

Some municipalities have laws restricting smoking further than the applicable national/provincial/territorial legislation. There have also been significant changes to public smoking regulations across the country following the legalization of recreational cannabis on October 17, 2018. This has resulted in additional regulations pertaining to the public consumption of cannabis in each province, with varying similarity to regulations concerning tobacco consumption.

The federal government's smoking ban in workplaces and on common carriers applies only to the federal government and to federally regulated businesses, such as airports. Smoking rooms are not permitted. As of 2020, 12.9% of Canadians aged 15 and older smoke.

The use of tobacco by the First Nations in Canada dates back centuries as a sacred plant with immense healing and spiritual benefits. They primarily consumed tobacco through pipes.

The consumption of cigarettes in Canada began to rise in the early 20th century. According to Sharon Cook:

The pathfinders who first articulated women’s right to smoke were members of the middle and upper classes who were “untrammelled by conventional notions of decorum” for women, such as actresses, intellectuals, and “new women.” After all, these were the leaders of the 19th- and early 20th-century enfrachisement campaigns and other public-sphere campaigns which demanded the right to enter the professions, hold membership in artistic associations, and much else. It is not surprising that early examples of women pushing the boundaries of acceptable behaviours like smoking were women of privilege—intellectuals, artists, society women, and the like. The same process was at work in the masculine world of smoking with elitist elements arguing first for snuff, then cigars, pipes, and finally cigarettes.

Cook argues that the tobacco companies were looking for large profits which depended on sales to a much larger base of working women. They pitched their advertising to them, not to the elite. Thus, "The combination of cheap prices, reliable and theatrical possibilities as a wardrobe prop, [short] duration of the smoking experience and workplace norms of peer associations...explain cigarettes’ growing popularity over cigars and pipes for working women after World War I."

By the 1950s, smoking had become increasingly popular, and the Canadian tobacco industry was thriving. In the 1950s and early 1960s, the industry deliberately downplayed the health risks associated with smoking. They sought to stall the smoking and health issue, leading to a lack of awareness among the general public. Before 1960, there were only limited restrictions. Smoking was allowed in most public spaces, including airplanes, classrooms, offices, and even the House of Commons. Tobacco advertising was prevalent, and there were no restrictions on sales or packaging.