Impaired Driving Laws in Canada

Impaired driving is the leading criminal cause of death and injury in Canada, according to the DoJ (Impaired Driving Laws) document, with more than 69,000 impaired driving incidents reported by the police, including almost 3,500 drug-impaired driving incidents in 2017. To reduce those numbers, it states that the federal government in 2018 created three new offences for having specified levels of a drug in the blood within two hours of driving.

If you are caught with between two and five ng of THC in your blood, that would be dealt with as a summary convictionUsed for lesser offences criminal offence, punishable by a minimum fine of $1,000.

If 5 ng or more of THC is detected in your blood, the DoJ document states your charge would be a hybrid offenceAn offence prosecuted either as a summary conviction or as an indictable offence, meaning that it can be prosecuted by indictment in serious cases or by summary conviction in lesser cases. If a blood test shows you have a combined THC and alcohol concentration of 50 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood, combined with a THC level greater than 2.5 ng per ml of blood, that would also be treated as a hybrid offence.

According to s.320.19 of the Code, both hybrid offences would be punishable by mandatory penalties of $1,000 for a first offence and escalating penalties for repeat offenders.

The minimum penalty for second offences is 30 days imprisonment, with sentences of a 120-days behind bars handed out for a third or subsequent offence. The maximum penalty for these two latter charges (second or third offence) are two years less a day on summary convictionUsed for lesser offences and 10 years for indictable offenceIndictable offences are more-serious criminal offencess. The Crown could also seek a dangerous offender application in appropriate circumstances.

If you refuse to comply with a demand for bodily samples, you could be fined $2,000.  

It is important to note that provinces have their own guidelines, and penalties can be more severe than federal guidelines, resulting in licence suspensions. Under s.320.2 of the Code, those charged with impaired driving causing bodily harm face a maximum penalty of two years less a day in jail for a summary conviction or a maximum of 14 years for an indictable offence.

The charge of impaired driving causing death, s.320.21, is always an indictable offence, with a maximum life in prison.

In addition, provinces and territories have their own punishments for impaired driving, including licence suspensions. Please review our list of partners in your area for more detailed explanations.

When arriving at a sentence, s.320.22 of the Code says the court will consider aggravating factors that may increase the severity of your sentence.

Those include if you:

• were in a race with another driver on a street or a public area;
• had under the age of 16 was with you at the time
• were being compensated for operating the vehicle you were arrested in
• were not permitted, by federal or provincial authorities, to operate the vehicle you were arrested in.

Your rights:

After arresting you for impaired driving, police must advise you of your rights, including the right to a lawyer. According to the RCMP, that right can be exercised before an evidentiary breath test, the blood sample or the 12-step DRE evaluation, which are all done in a police station. However, roadside tests and evaluations are done before speaking with a lawyer.