As the provincial government prepares to make it more difficult to sell tobacco, a group of store owners say the National Assembly is ignoring their request to discuss the topic.
The association of Chinese depanneur owners says its members are being unfairly targeted by police for unwittingly selling tobacco to minors.
The depanneur owners say they are aware of their legal and moral obligations in not selling tobacco to children, but say that in many cases they just cannot tell how old people are.
Fo Niemi of Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations said that many store owners are immigrants and simply have do not have the familiarity with western faces needed to identify someone's age.
"They do have problems looking at a white face or brown face or a black face, sometimes they can't tell the age," said Niemi.
Store owners say this is particularly a problem when they are subject to sting operations, when authorities get minors who look old for their age to go into stores and attempt to buy cigarettes.
Guidelines from the government recommend store clerks check the identity of anyone who appears to be under 25 years old, but store owners say they may end up checking the identity of everyone just to be safe.
"We may have to card everyone and anyone in order not to differentiate and create tensions amongst some customers," said Niemi.
Public hearings regarding Bill 44, which will increase penalties for stores that sell tobacco to minors, are due to begin Aug. 18.
The store owners said their request to testify at the hearings has been ignored.
