Canadian Asbestos Rules & timeline of asbestos bans & regulations in Canada/

Illustrated at page top: Dominion Oil Cloth & Linoleum sheet flooring, canvas-backed, from 1956-1957 - probably not an asbestos-containing product.

Banning of Asbestos in Canada & Canadian Products

Timeline of Use & Bans of Asbestos in Canada

• 2018 - sbestos use was "fully banned" in Canada in 2018. Before that time earlier bans limited the use of asbestos in certain products, as we discuss below.
  
  Beginning in the 1920s, especially after 1930, asbestos was mined (chrysotile asbestos in Thetford, Quebec), produced, exported, and used as well in many Canadian building & home products including some building materials such as roofing, ceiling tiles, drywall, etc.
  
  Note that even now asbestos may still be found in some products such as certain cement-asbestos products and in some automotive gaskets.
• 1990 - Canadian homes built before the last day of 1990 require a survey for the presence of hazardous materials, including asbestos and lead paint, before renovations.
• By 1990 asbestos was banned for use in vermiculite insulation (present depending on where the vermiculite was mined), in roofing shingles and roll roofing, in adhesive mastics or compounds, in sealants, and in flooring products.
• By 1985 asbestos was banned in Canada for use in acoustic coatings and sprays including textured ceiling or wall paints, ceiling tiles, drywall compound (joint compound), plaster used for walls & ceilings, vinyl floor tiles, vinyl sheet flooring, window caulks, window putty.
  
  In 1985 asbestos could still be widely-found in Canadian homes.
• Circa 1982 asbestos was banned in Canada for use in insulation used on pipes and similar mechanical system components
• 1981: the first year of Canadian government extensive regulations that began to reduce the use of asbestos in the country.
• 1980: the last year of extensive use of asbestos-containing products & building materials in Canada
• 1979: by this year the manufacture (but not necesssarily the sale) of most asbestos-containing materials was banned in Canada.
  
  Watch out: however existing stock of asbestos-containing products could continue to be sold until exhausted.
• An earlier ban, in 1977, ended the use of asbestos in Canadian buildings in textured paints and in drywall patching or joint compounds.
• Circa 1975 asbestos was banned in Canada for use in spray-on fireproofing coatings or spray-on insulation materials
• An earlier ban, in 1972 banned the use of asbestos in drywall panels themselves.
• 1940s: very extensive use of asbestos in wartime-related products.

Illustrated here: a Canadian Johns-Manville advertisement promoting the benefits of Asbestos appearing in the Ontario Issue of the Journal of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, Vol. 18, No. 6, Toronto, June 1941.

The Journal reported:

CANADIAN ASBESTOS HELPS BEAT THE "BLITZ" . A recent appeal for 10,000 pairs of asbestos gloves from the heroic firemen of bomb·blasted London has not gone unheeded.

Canadian Johns·Monville employees launched a fund to help supply them ... and already the gloves ore on their way.

Complete asbestos suits, too, ore now being produced in quantity-woven from fibre coming in a steady stream from J.M's Canadian mine, the largest in the world.

[Click to enlarge any image]

In December 2016 the Canadian Ministers of Science, Health and Environment and CLimate Change and Public Services and Procurement produced a joint announcement that the Canadian Government would proceed with a whole-of-government approach to banning asbestos and asbestos-containing products by 2018.

In October 2018 it was announced that a modified (from the original Canadian asbestos ban) proposal was to go into effect by the end of the year. The government planned to prohibit asbestos in new construction and renovations, ban it in imports.

"Canada's military and nuclear facilities will be able to buy, import and use products containing asbestos to service their equipment until the end of 2022 "if no technically or economically feasible asbestos-free alternative is available."

Up to 2018 Canada continued to mine and export asbestos for permitted uses, and lobbied to remove Chrysotile asbestos from the Rotterdam Convention.

Source:

PROHIBITION OF ASBESTOS AND PRODUCTS CONTAINING ASBESTOS REGULATIONS: SOR/2018-196 [PDF] Canada Gazette, Part II, Volume 152, Number 21 retrieved 2019/02/02 original source: http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2018/2018-10-17/html/sor-dors196-eng.html

This document contains the current Canadian asbestos regulations including bans and exceptions.

Is there Asbestos in Dominion Flooring?

Readers at DOMINION & Other CANADIAN FLOORING ASBESTOS asked if their older Dominion sheet flooring or floor tiles contain asbestos.

To be prudent and unless you know that a flooring material does not contain asbestos OR unless you've had a sample tested, treat asbestos-suspect flooring in Canada as PACM - Presumed Asbestos Containing Material: that means avoid making a dusty mess by sanding, grinding, chopping, etc.

Asbestos is safe and legal to remain in homes or public buildings as long as the asbestos materials are in good condition and the asbestos can not be released into the air.

Generally the safest course with asbestos materials in buildings is to leave the material alone, intact, un-disturbed, encapsulated or covered-over if possible.

Is there Asbestos in other Canadian Products Used in the Home?

Yes there may be asbestos in various home products, depending on when the product was made.

The current version of "Asbestos in the Home" published by the Canadian Ministry of Health states

Asbestos has been used to make products strong, long-lasting and fire-resistant. Production and use of asbestos have declined since the 1970s.

Before 1990, asbestos was mainly used for insulating buildings and homes against cold weather, noise and for fireproofing. It may also be found in some auto parts.

Asbestos may be found in:

Cement and plaster

Building insulation
House siding
Floor and ceiling tiles
Car and truck brake pads
Furnaces and heating systems

- source: ASBESTOS in the HOME (Canada) [PDF] (2018) Health Canada "Infographic" Health Canada Address Locator 0900C2 Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0K9 Email: hcinfo.infosc@canada.ca Telephone: 613-957-2991 Toll free: 1-866-225-0709 Facsimile: 613-941-5366 Teletypewriter: 1-800-465-7735 (Service Canada)

References on Asbestos in Canadian Flooring & In Other Canadian Products

• ASBESTOS FLOORING HAZARD LEVEL ASSESSMENT
• ASBESTOS MATERIAL REGULATIONS - includes a list of dates of asbestos regulations by various countries, in order by year.
• ASBESTOS TESTING LAB LIST
• DOMTAR CEILING TILES - these Canadian-made ceiling tiles may contain asbestos
• PROHIBITION OF ASBESTOS AND PRODUCTS CONTAINING ASBESTOS REGULATIONS: SOR/2018-196 [PDF] Canada Gazette, Part II, Volume 152, Number 21 retrieved 2019/02/02 original source: http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2018/2018-10-17/html/sor-dors196-eng.html
• Mendels, M.M. THE ASBESTOS INDUSTRY in CANADA [PDF] Thesis, MA Department of Economics & Political Science, McGill University (1929)
  
  This thesis cites the Dominion Asbestos Company Ltd., not the Dominion Flooring company.
• 2018/10/01 Current (new) Canadian asbestos regulations: PROHIBITION OF ASBESTOS AND PRODUCTS CONTAINING ASBESTOS REGULATIONS: SOR/2018-196 [PDF] Canada Gazette, Part II, Volume 152, Number 21 retrieved 2019/02/02 original source: http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2018/2018-10-17/html/sor-dors196-eng.html
• 2016 Canada: 2016/12/15, announced asbestos ban to take effect in 2018
• 2005 ASBESTOS REGULATIONS for ONTARIO CANADA  -  Ontario Regulation 278/05
• CANADA: PROHIBITION OF ASBESTOS AND PRODUCTS CONTAINING ASBESTOS REGULATIONS: SOR/2018-196 [PDF] Canada Gazette, Part II, Volume 152, Number 21 retrieved 2019/02/02 original source: http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2018/2018-10-17/html/sor-dors196-eng.html
• CANADA ASBESTOS REGULATIONS, ONTARIO [PDF]

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Reader Q&A - also see RECOMMENDED ARTICLES & FAQs

Does Old Canadian Armstrong Flooring Contain Asbestos?

I have no idea what year the tile in my home was put down, it’s a very old house with many updates and an addition over the years.

There are numbers on the back of the tile, it was manufactured by Armstrong in Canada.

Are you able to tell me if it is likely to have asbestos?

Thank you! On 2020-04-25 by Laurie

Answer by (mod) - Recent & current (2025) floor tiles sold at Menards - compare with recent Canadian Armstrong flooring

Laurie

Sorry, but I can't say much about your floor tile with no more information, except to suggest that from its appearance, as you can confirm by looking through the photos in this article series,

your floor does not look much like flooring from the 1960s or 1970s.

Your floor tile is likely to be a newer product.

You can confirm that (or disagree) by looking through the tile image photos in this article series.

You don't give country and city where the building (hosting this floor tile ) is located though presumably in Canada,

but I note that your image resembles this floor tile from Menards building supply stores - currently available.

That flooring would not contain asbestos.

...

Continue reading  at ASBESTOS MATERIAL REGULATIONS or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

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