Overview

• Provinces and territories began receiving their first settlement payments on Friday, with the initial tranche to governments totaling roughly $24.7 billion.
• British Columbia confirmed an initial $936 million transfer, the first installment toward more than $3.6 billion scheduled over 18 years.
• Claim portals opened August 29 for individuals: Quebec class members can receive up to $100,000 for lung or throat cancer and up to $30,000 for emphysema, while non‑Quebec claimants can receive up to $60,000 and $18,000 respectively.
• Outside Quebec, eligibility includes being alive on March 8, 2019, having smoked at least twelve pack‑years of cigarettes sold by the named companies, and a qualifying diagnosis between March 8, 2015 and March 8, 2019.
• Public‑health organizations urged governments to devote a significant share of their proceeds to tobacco‑reduction measures, noting the deal adds no new restrictions on sales or marketing.