A 14-year-old lawsuit seeking C$27bn (£16.9bn, €20.7bn) in damages against three tobacco firms in Canada is to come to trial. The class action alleges that Imperial Tobacco, JTI-Macdonald and Rothmans Benson & Hedges lied about nicotine levels in their products, and hid evidence on the health impact of smoking. The suit is for C$10,000 for each of Quebec’s 1.8 million citizens that claim they are unable to quit smoking. Imperial Tobacco called the suits an “opportunistic cash grab”. The three defendants are likely to start giving evidence in 2013, and have said that they will seek damages from the Canadian government should they lose the case.
Related Stories
Community Development
Plexes, Pods and Micro-Centers: New Family Childcare Models Are Bringing Business and Families Back to Main Street
By converting homes and small-scale commercial spaces into turnkey sites for family childcare providers, small towns across the country are creating new childcare slots, good jobs, and communities where young families actually want to stay.
March 13
Community Development
Youth Champion Cleaner Air and Reforestation at Kenya’s Refugee Camps
Most of the refugees in Kakuma, Kenya, do not have access to clean cooking fuels, leaving them inhaling dirty fumes when trying to put food on the table. Youth in the community are championing change by building cleaner stoves.
December 9, 2025
Justice + Equality
We, the People: Defending the U.S. Constitution As Immigration Raids Threaten Basic Rights
With administration officials saying agents are immune to accountability, many are understandably wondering: What rights do I have when interacting with federal immigration forces, and do those rights even matter in an environment where free speech or simply existing in my own neighborhood can be met with violence?
January 29