Attorney General Niki Sharma says B.C. will be getting approximately $3.7 billion over several years â€“ $900 million in the first year – following the conclusion of a decades-long legal battle with multinational tobacco companies. 

The chief justice of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice approved a $32.5-billion settlement in the 28-year litigation, Sharma said during a news conference outside of the B.C. legislature Thursday (March 6). She added it was the largest settlement in Canadian history and the third-largest worldwide. 

"These companies knowingly sold a product that causes addiction, disease and death, all while hiding the truth and prioritizing their profits over peoples' lives."

Sharma said B.C. has led the fight to hold tobacco companies accountable "for the immense harm that was caused by their deceptive practices."

"In 1997, at that time, premier (Glen) Clark and health minister Joy MacPhail passed the Tobacco Damages Recovery Act, the first of its kind in Canada. Since then, B.C. has led the way. They took on big tobacco to hold them accountable for knowingly withholding the truth about harmful impacts of their products."

In 1998, the province started legal action against the three principal Canadian tobacco manufacturers and their foreign parent corporations to recover the cost of treating tobacco-related diseases. 

Sharma said B.C. is set to get the $3.7 billion over the course of 18 years. After the $900 million first year payout, B.C. will get 14.47 per cent every year going forward of what remains of the $32.5-billion settlement. She said it's expected B.C. will be awarded the majority of its settlement in the first 10 years.

That money, she said, will go directly to strengthening B.C.'s health-care system, specifically to invest in cancer treatment and primary care, expand research into treatments, and educate people to stop smoking.

There are different components to the settlement, she said, noting that Quebec has individualized settlements. Sharma said each province will make their own plans, but in B.C. this settlement will definitely go to health-care.

However, she said it's not just about financial compensation. Sharma said she knows there will never be enough money to undo the harm and damage caused, but it's about making sure there are real consequences.

Sharma said right now there is an education system in place in B.C. that is "very active about making sure people know about the risks of smoking, where it's not in the dark anymore what the harms are." She added she thinks there is way more understanding in B.C. today. 

"We have to remember a time when this litigation started, where smoking and tobacco companies were not telling people about the harm that their products were doing. This deceptive practice that led to people smoking  – without knowing the harms – and getting these really harmful illnesses."