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Weird and Wacky Wednesdays: Volume 396

This week on Weird and Wacky Wednesdays: The Strange Cargo Edition

Every so often the news cycle delivers a run of stories that all seem to circle the same idea, and this past month gave us a good one. The theme is cargo. Specifically, the kind of cargo people are not supposed to be moving, on the kind of conveyance they probably should not be using to move it. We have a horse, a deceased alligator, and 22 Buddhist monks with 242 pounds of explanation to do at customs. None of these people were thinking about Canadian law when they did what they did, but each story is a useful reminder of how Canadian law would have treated them if they had tried any of this here.

Let’s start with the horse.

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Weird and Wacky Wednesdays: Volume 396Read More »

Weird and Wacky Wednesdays: Volume 396 Read More »

Ontario Just Made Impaired Driving Penalties Much Harsher. Here’s What BC Drivers Should Know

On January 1, 2026, Ontario enacted the most significant provincial overhaul of impaired driving penalties in Canada in years. Under amendments to the Highway Traffic Act brought into force through the Safer Roads and Communities Act, Ontario drivers now face lifetime licence suspensions for impaired driving causing death, double the prior look-back period for repeat offences, longer automatic roadside suspensions, and mandatory education programs triggered on the first offence rather than the second.

It’s a fundamental shift in how Ontario handles impaired driving. And it raises an obvious question for BC drivers: is the same thing coming here?

The short answer is that BC’s framework already differs sharply from Ontario’s, in ways that matter for anyone facing an impaired driving allegation. But Ontario’s 2026 changes are part of a clear national trend toward faster, harsher, and more automatic consequences. If you’re currently facing impaired driving charges in BC, or if you want to understand where the law may be heading, here’s what you need to know.

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Ontario Just Made Impaired Driving Penalties Much Harsher. Here’s What BC Drivers Should KnowRead More »

Ontario Just Made Impaired Driving Penalties Much Harsher. Here’s What BC Drivers Should Know Read More »

Colour-Of-Right: Cases That Should Have Gone to the Supreme Court of Canada, But Didn’t!

Welcome to “Cases That Should Have Gone to the Supreme Court of Canada, But Didn’t!”

In this episode, Kyla Lee from Acumen Law Corporation examines a case involving the defence of colour-of-right and its potential application in protest-related contempt proceedings. Colour-of-right is typically raised where someone believes they are entitled to property and acts on that belief. In this case, individuals involved in anti-deforestation protests in British Columbia were subject to court injunctions restricting their activities. Some protesters violated those orders and were charged with contempt of court, arguing that their actions were justified because they believed they were protecting land they had a rightful claim to. The courts rejected that argument, raising important questions about the limits of this defence.

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Colour-Of-Right: Cases That Should Have Gone to the Supreme Court of Canada, But Didn’t!Read More »

Colour-Of-Right: Cases That Should Have Gone to the Supreme Court of Canada, But Didn’t! Read More »

Episode 449: THC Limits and the Risk of Criminalizing the Innocent

This week, we examine a troubling decision upholding THC driving laws that may capture drivers who aren’t actually impaired.

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Episode 449: THC Limits and the Risk of Criminalizing the InnocentRead More »

Episode 449: THC Limits and the Risk of Criminalizing the Innocent Read More »

Impaired Driving Update – BC Edition: Volume 21

Welcome to British Columbia’s only weekly DUI law update newsletter. This newsletter contains the most cutting-edge information, the newest case law, and helpful practice tips for DUI defence in BC.

Authored by Kyla Lee, BC’s Impaired Driving Update is released weekly on Thursdays.

What’s inside:

  • Impaired Driving Defence Tip
  • IRP Decision of the Week
  • DUI Decision of the Week
  • Kyla’s Insight
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Impaired Driving Update – BC Edition: Volume 21Read More »

Impaired Driving Update – BC Edition: Volume 21 Read More »

Weird and Wacky Wednesdays: Volume 395

This week on Weird and Wacky Wednesdays: When the Prosecutors and Judges Get Pulled Over

There is a long tradition of prosecutors and judges standing in court and asking that the book be thrown at drivers charged with impaired driving. They talk about denunciation and deterrence. They talk about the danger to the public. They ask for big fines, long prohibitions, and sometimes jail. That is their job.

What makes the past few months particularly strange is how many of them have ended up on the other side of the prosecutor’s desk, charged with the very offence they spend their careers prosecuting. Three recent stories from three different jurisdictions show that the people running impaired driving cases are not always the best behaved behind the wheel. The stories also show something else. When a prosecutor or a judge gets caught, they seem to forget every piece of advice they have ever given anyone.

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Weird and Wacky Wednesdays: Volume 395Read More »

Weird and Wacky Wednesdays: Volume 395 Read More »

2,722 Distracted Driving Tickets in One Month: What BC’s Latest Enforcement Numbers Mean for You

BC Highway Patrol has just released its March 2026 enforcement data, and the headline figure is striking: 2,722 distracted driving tickets were handed out across the province in a single month. That’s only a slight dip from the 2,738 tickets issued in March 2025, despite years of public awareness campaigns warning drivers to put their phones down.

But dig one level deeper into the numbers and one region jumps off the page. Metro Vancouver saw 219 more distracted driving tickets in March 2026 than in March 2025. This was the largest year-over-year jump of any region in the province. If you drive in the Lower Mainland, that’s not a statistic to ignore. It means more officers on the road, more eyes on drivers at red lights, and a meaningfully higher chance of a ticket for anyone who picks up a phone behind the wheel.

Here’s what BC’s latest enforcement numbers actually mean for everyday drivers, what a distracted driving ticket really costs, and what your options are if one lands in your mailbox.

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2,722 Distracted Driving Tickets in One Month: What BC’s Latest Enforcement Numbers Mean for YouRead More »

2,722 Distracted Driving Tickets in One Month: What BC’s Latest Enforcement Numbers Mean for You Read More »

Deliberate Delay: Cases That Should Have Gone to the Supreme Court of Canada, But Didn’t!

Welcome to “Cases That Should Have Gone to the Supreme Court of Canada, But Didn’t!”

In this episode, Kyla Lee from Acumen Law Corporation examines a case involving delay in criminal trials and whether time taken by judges to decide mid-trial issues should count toward the Jordan ceiling. In a Quebec case, the accused argued that his right to be tried within a reasonable time was breached because the judge took time throughout the trial to rule on interlocutory motions and Charter applications. These pauses extended the proceedings beyond the 18 month ceiling. The Quebec Court of Appeal disagreed, finding that this type of delay did not violate the accused’s rights.

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Deliberate Delay: Cases That Should Have Gone to the Supreme Court of Canada, But Didn’t!Read More »

Deliberate Delay: Cases That Should Have Gone to the Supreme Court of Canada, But Didn’t! Read More »

Impaired Driving Update – BC Edition: Volume 20

Welcome to British Columbia’s only weekly DUI law update newsletter. This newsletter contains the most cutting-edge information, the newest case law, and helpful practice tips for DUI defence in BC.

Authored by Kyla Lee, BC’s Impaired Driving Update is released weekly on Thursdays.

What’s inside:

  • Impaired Driving Defence Tip
  • IRP Decision of the Week
  • DUI Decision of the Week
  • Kyla’s Insight
…

Impaired Driving Update – BC Edition: Volume 20Read More »

Impaired Driving Update – BC Edition: Volume 20 Read More »

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