OTTAWA — The case of Norma McLeod, the 76-year-old B.C. woman who’s filed a Charter challenge against mandatory alcohol screening, shows the sweeping powers police now have to pull over any car at any time and force the driver to take a breath test.
That’s thanks to a 1990 Supreme Court of Canada ruling that allows them to make “random routine traffic checks” for a certain number of reasons: to check a driver’s licence and insurance, to check the car’s mechanical condition, and — crucially — to check sobriety. The fact that mandatory breath tests are now a part of “random routine traffic checks” means R. v. Ladouceur is likely open to new challenge.
They point to R. v. Chehil, a 2013 SCC decision about police sniffer dogs that is the most recent authority on how police can use reasonable suspicion to conduct searches. R. v. Chehil held that reasonable suspicion complies with the Charter because it “has been deemed to be minimally impairing, but only if the suspicion rises above the level of generalized suspicion.”
There are other cases of medical issues causing this problem. In fact, McLeod’s lawyers have just had a different case where a 69-year-old woman, Inger Forsyth, was deemed to have refused a breath sample after 10 failed attempts. Forsyth was on antibiotics at the time for bronchitis.
This law stinks and that's all there is to it.
Appreciate trying to stop drunk drivers but never should have been on the back of the charter of rights and this clearly is. This Bill should have never passed 'Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.'
bcbluecon Gotta love our 'living tree' these lawyers in fancy dresses have pruning our rights away ever so slowly. They've been deferential to legislation even adding their 2 cents worth. They're supposed to be our shield from odious legislation not the government's emabler.
btaplatt Isn’t ironic that Trudeau Liberals pushed thru this garbage law when Justin’s own mother availed herself of the charter to get out of her self-admitted DUI? “He said the officer had no radar, and so wouldn't have been able to tell if she were speeding.”
Throw the Charter in the garbage, it's a worthless piece of political dribble
The arguments for public safety over individual rights is a slippery slope towards a dystopian police state. But what solutions are there for DUI other than RIDE that are practical?
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