Almost five months has passed since the settlement among tobacco companies and the governments and smokers whom they injured came into effect.
This post reports on some of the implementation issues encountered by parties which have been brought to back to the court for review.
October: Establishing a method for joint oversight by Quebec and Ontario courts
The execution of the payments to Quebec smokers involves oversight by both the Quebec and Ontario Superior Courts. In October a protocol Court to Court Communication Protocol was established to establish some of the ways in which this joint work will be managed.
November and onwards: Formally dismissing the lawsuits filed against the companies
In November the monitors requested clarity/direction on the steps to formally terminate the lawsuits that were addressed by the settlement and proposed "Pending Litigation Orders to streamline the process for terminating and dismissing the Pending Litigation."
This unopposed request was agreed to by Justice Morawetz, who initially issued an order in November seeking the support of courts across the country in dismissing the cases.
In January 2026, he revisited the issue and subsequently requested the monitors to provide him with text to facilitate his using his own authority to accomplish this.
December: Authorization for Deloitte to play a double role for JTI-Macdonald
In December, JTI-Macdonald sought approval for Deloitte to work both as court-appointed administrator for the settlement plan and also as auditor for Japan Tobacco's Canadian operations.
The request was apparently unopposed during the (non-broadcast) hearing and immediately approved. Justice Morawetz' endorsement was issued after the December break.
January: Streamlining the Quebec paperwork
Last week, the Quebec class action filed a request with both the Ontario and Quebec courts for approval of changes to the paperwork required by the heirs of injured smokers in submitting claims. A roadblock to finalizing the application is said to involve the paperwork required in getting access by families of dead smokers to the medical records required to provide alternative proof.
Access to these medical files requires the assistance of Quebec health officials who are said to be "already struggling to respond ... due to the high volume of requests"
The deadline to file claims under the Quebec class action is this coming August (claims under the Pan Canadian class have an additional year). A provincial government hiring freeze has raised concerns about the government's capacity to manage these requests for records within the mandated time frame. "If the public health institutions receiving these requests must analyse and determine the succession status of the individuals making them (which often is extremely complicated and requires the analysis of multiple documents), there will be a significant backlog and delay and it is unlikely that the alternative proof will be made available on a sufficiently timely basis."
The solution proposed is for officials in the Quebec health system to be permitted to transmit the medical records directly to the agencies which are administering the Quebec and Pan Canadian claim process. This approach is proposed with the full support of the Quebec ministries involved. How this request to both Quebec and Ontario courts will be resolved - especially it is opposed by other parties to the settlement - is not clear to this writer.
51,000 Quebec claims underway - almost half of whom need more paperwork
As shown in the appendix to the request filed last week, almost half of QCAP claimants will need access to documents for such alternative proof: 8,500 of 13,000 still-living victims and 13,100 of 37,000 succession claims.
