Impaired Driving (Yukon)

*Generally, the Criminal Code is the basis for impaired driving charges, but there may be supplementary sanctions under provincial law.

Like other provinces and territories in Canada, the Yukon has amended its laws over the years in an effort to curb impaired driving. In 2018, police conducted a roadside survey in Whitehorse and found 22.3 percent of the drivers stopped were drinking or using drugs or both.

Noting the Yukon “continues to have one of the highest rates for impaired driving in Canada,” the federal government pledged $2.3 million in 2019 to fund training for frontline officers. If the police believe you are driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, you face an immediate 24-hour roadside suspension. If you are caught with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08, you can be charged under Canada’s Criminal Code and face a 90-day roadside suspension under Yukon’s Motor Vehicles Act (MVA). 

Each territory and province in Canada is responsible for governing its roads and highways. The rights and responsibilities of Yukon drivers are laid out under drivers in the territory’s MVA, which includes laws to deal with impaired driving. Impaired drivers are typically charged under the Criminal Code, with penalties that can include life in prison for impaired driving causing death. There can also be supplementary charges under the MVA.

Impaired driving is also referred to as drunk driving and driving under the influence (DUI). If you drive with a BAC equal to or over 80 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood, or .08 you can be charged criminally. However, alcohol is not the only substance that can affect your ability to drive. Your motor skills can also be impaired by illegal drugs and cannabis, as well as over-the-counter drugs and prescription medicine, especially when combined with alcohol. 

Cannabis has been legal in Canada for several years. However, it is an offence to have between two and five nanograms of THC (the primary psychoactive component of cannabis) per ml of blood when operating a vehicle. Operating any conveyance, such as a car or off-road vehicle, with a reading of five ng or more THC per ml of blood is an even more serious offenceAn indictable offence with a maximum punishment of five years or more.. The combined prohibited levels of alcohol and cannabis are 50 mg or more of alcohol per 100 ml of blood and 2.5 ng or more of THC per ml of blood.

If convicted of driving an off-road vehicle when impaired by alcohol or drugs, you will face the same consequences as those operating a motor vehicle while impaired.

The Yukon has a zero-tolerance policy for new drivers under its graduated drivers' licensing (GDL) program. If you violate the terms of the progam, you face the following consequences: 

• a meeting with the registrar;
• a referral to the Driver Control Board; and
• a requirement to restart the phase of the GDL you're in.

Under mandatory alcohol screening (MAS), police have the right to demand a breath test from you at a roadside stop without reasonable suspicion that you have alcohol in your body. Prior to new federal legislation introduced in 2018, police could only demand a test if there was proof you had been drinking, such as having slurred speech.

You do not have the right to consult with a lawyer before providing a breath sample, and you cannot escape punishment by refusing to provide one. Under the Criminal Code, you face the same penalties for failing or refusing to comply with a demand as you would for a conviction for impaired driving. 

The Yukon recently updated its law to include an ignition interlock program. An interlock is a device installed on your ignition that takes breath samples. Your vehicle will not start if alcohol is detected. The device also requires you to provide breath samples at random times while your vehicle is running. If a sample is not provided or your blood alcohol content exceeds the allowed limit, the device will log the event, warn you and trigger an alarm that will sound until the ignition is turned off. You are responsible for the cost of installing and using the device.

Impaired driving has two separate layers of consequences in Yukon. The first is the criminal charge under the Criminal Code of Canada — the same offence, penalties and mandatory minimums everywhere in Canada. The second is Yukon’s own administrative layer — licence suspensions, vehicle impoundment and program requirements that are not a criminal conviction and can apply even before, or without, a criminal charge.

For the criminal charge and the penalties that apply everywhere in Canada, see Impaired Driving.

Roadside licence suspensions

Under Yukon’s Motor Vehicles Act, a police officer can suspend a driver’s licence on the spot, without waiting for any court process. If an officer reasonably believes a driver’s ability to drive is affected by alcohol, drugs, or another substance, the officer can suspend the licence for 24 hours and impound the vehicle for 24 hours (Motor Vehicles Act, s. 256).

A longer administrative suspension, of up to 90 days, applies where: the driver’s blood alcohol concentration is 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood (0.08) or higher; the driver fails or refuses to provide a breath or blood sample when lawfully demanded; the driver is caught driving while already suspended or disqualified; or the officer reasonably believes the driver’s ability to drive is impaired. This suspension ends at whichever comes first — 90 days, or the date the driver is convicted of the related federal impaired-driving charge arising from the same incident (Motor Vehicles Act, s. 257). A driver can ask an independent review officer to check whether the suspension was reasonable (Motor Vehicles Act, s. 259).

This roadside suspension is a separate, non-criminal action taken by Yukon’s licensing system. It is not a criminal conviction, and it can happen whether or not a person is ever criminally charged or convicted — even though the 0.08 concentration used here is the same number the Criminal Code uses for the criminal charge itself.

Zero tolerance for new drivers

Drivers holding a Class 7 Learner’s licence, or a Class 5 or Class 6 Novice licence, and any co-driver required to accompany them, must have no alcohol in their blood at all while driving. This zero-alcohol condition is stricter than the 0.08 threshold that applies to fully licensed drivers, and it is a separate administrative rule, not a criminal-law standard (Motor Vehicles Regulation, ss. 6.2, 6.3, 6.5, 6.6).

Vehicle impoundment

Police can impound a vehicle when its driver is believed to be driving in a way that would break the Criminal Code’s impaired-driving rules, or while suspended (Motor Vehicles Act, s. 235). How long the vehicle stays impounded depends on how many times a vehicle registered to the same owner has already been impounded under this law in the past five years: 30 days for a first impoundment, 60 days for a second, and 120 days for a third or later one. Each of these periods doubles — to 60, 120, or 240 days — if the driver’s blood alcohol concentration was over 160 milligrams per 100 millilitres, or if the driver failed or refused to provide a breath or blood sample (Motor Vehicles Act, s. 238). On a third or later impoundment, the vehicle’s registration is also cancelled, and the owner cannot re-register it until 240 days after the impoundment ends.

Disqualification after a conviction

If a driver is later convicted of an impaired-driving offence under the Criminal Code, Yukon’s Motor Vehicles Act separately disqualifies that person from holding a Yukon operator’s licence: 1 year for a first conviction, 3 years for a second, and indefinitely for a third or later conviction (Motor Vehicles Act, s. 255). This territorial disqualification is layered on top of the criminal sentence itself, and it is separate from any driving prohibition a criminal court orders directly under Criminal Code section 320.24.

Ignition interlock and early reinstatement

A driver disqualified under Yukon’s territorial ladder can ask the Driver Control Board to remove the disqualification early — after 2 years for a second-conviction disqualification, or 5 years for a third or later one — or sooner if the driver agrees, in writing and at their own expense, to drive only a vehicle fitted with an alcohol ignition interlock device, a breath-testing device wired into the ignition that stops the vehicle from starting if it detects alcohol (Motor Vehicles Act, s. 262). Reinstatement fees, towing and storage costs, interlock costs, or program fees may also apply.

Driving while disqualified or suspended

Separate penalties may apply for driving while disqualified or suspended. Those penalties are different from the Criminal Code penalties for impaired driving itself.

Yukon’s licence suspensions, vehicle impoundment, disqualification ladder, and interlock program operate alongside the Criminal Code process, not instead of it. A person can face these territorial, administrative consequences and a separate federal impaired-driving charge arising from the same incident. A criminal court’s own driving prohibition under Criminal Code section 320.24 remains distinct from any licence suspension imposed under Yukon’s Motor Vehicles Act.