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:
- Immediate Roadside Prohibition Review Tips!
- IRP Review Decision updates and successes
- Legislative Update from Parliament
- Kyla’s Insight
1. Immediate Roadside Prohibition Review Tip of the Week
When you are conducting the oral hearing, you have only 30 minutes to make submissions. However, there is no prohibition on supplementing with written material. Remember anything you submit has to be sent in before the close of the oral hearing. Best practice is to prepare written submissions in advance of the hearing to cover off procedural and systemic issues so you can reserve your time in the hearing for your best substantive arguments.
2. IRP Decision of the Week
Prohibition Revoked: Police responded to a report of a potential impaired driver in a diner. Although the witness never saw this individual drive, they were concerned they might drive and so contacted police. Police attended and observed a person matching the description of the suspect getting into a vehicle. The officer noted the driver had unclear speech, repeated himself, and spoke slowly. On that basis, the officer read an approved screening device demand.
Kyla Lee successfully argued that the demand was not valid. Not only was the basis of the suspicion insufficient for a valid Approved Screening Device (ASD) demand, but there was nothing to place alcohol at the forefront. The demand was also invalid as it was delayed by 5 minutes. The officer ought to have engaged in further investigative activity before reading a suspicion ASD demand or ought to have read a mandatory ASD demand immediately upon interacting with the subject.
3. Legislative Update from Parliament
Bill C-16
Although this bill has very little to do with impaired driving law, one aspect of the bill relates to mandatory minimum sentences.
Because many driving offences in the Criminal Code carry mandatory minimum sentences, the provisions in relation to this have the potential to impact impaired driving cases. The bill contains a safety valve for judges where they find the mandatory minimum sentence is unconstitutional due to it constituting cruel and unusual punishment. The bill would permit judges in such circumstances to impose a shorter term of imprisonment than the mandatory minimum. However, the bill expressly excludes the sentencing regime for offences relating to conveyances from the mandatory minimum sentence exemption provisions. This means that mandatory minimum sentences for impaired driving offences continue to stand despite other offences having a safety valve.
The bill also contains provisions related to judicial stays of proceedings on the basis of unreasonable delay. If the legislation passes, the court would no longer have the authority to simply issue a stay as a remedy for a violation of the right to be tried within a reasonable time. Instead, a judge would have to consider whether a case was a complex case.
While this does not directly impact impaired driving cases, one of the factors that the amendments would include to identify a complex case is a case that requires pre-trial applications. Most impaired driving cases require pre-trial applications (whether those are applications to cross-examine a technician or an analyst, or applications for further disclosure, or applications for remedies under the Charter based on police issuing invalid demands or unlawfully detaining an individual). The provisions of the bill have the potential to make any impaired driving prosecution automatically be considered a complex case.
4. Kyla’s Insight
Bill C-16 is a mess. It seems the goal is not to simplify criminal law but to allow Parliament to do an end run around the Charter and Charter-related jurisprudence. By crafting these very tight rules binding the authority of judges to do what otherwise the Charter and the Supreme Court of Canada have said is the appropriate result.
It will be very interesting to see how this legislation fares on a constitutional challenge should it pass. Remember that the Liberal government has a majority, so chances are the bill will pass relatively unscathed from its current iteration.
5. Resources
Want to know more about impaired driving and Immediate Roadside Prohibitions in BC? Here are some helpful resources:
6. Contact Us
The police have their experts. You should have yours.
Charged with impaired driving? Get the lawyer who literally wrote the book on it. Call Kyla Lee at Acumen Law today. Visit our contact form or call 604-685-8889 or email kyla@vancouvercriminallaw.com
7. Featured Firm
Featured Firm: Acumen Law Corporation
Based in Vancouver, Acumen Law Corporation is one of British Columbia’s leading criminal defence firms, recognized across Canada for its work in impaired driving law. The firm’s lawyers have successfully defended thousands of Immediate Roadside Prohibitions, criminal impaired charges, and driving suspensions.
Kyla Lee, a partner at Acumen Law, is widely regarded as a national authority on DUI law. She has authored multiple legal textbooks, teaches DUI defence across North America, and regularly appears in the media explaining developments in driving law.
Acumen Law is known for its deep understanding of both the law and the science behind impaired driving cases. The team approaches every file with meticulous preparation and a commitment to protecting the rights of drivers across BC.
