Criminal Law – Impaired Driving

• Abridged Wigmore on Alcohol: Courtroom Alcohol Toxicology for the Medicolegal Professional by James Wigmore  Table of Contents.
• Breathalyzer Law in Canada : the Prosecution and Defence of Drinking, Drugs and Driving Offences, 5th ed. by Roderick McLeod, John Takach, Murray Segal Table of Contents
• Criminal Code Driving Offences: Companion Text for Breathalyzer Law in Canada by Roderick M. McLeod, John D. Takach, Murray D. Segal Table of Contents
• Defending Drinking, Drugs and Driving Cases by Alan Gold Table of Contents
• Drug-Impaired Driving in Canada by Nathan Baker Table of Contents
• A Guide to Breathalyzer Certificates in Canada by Alan Pearse
• Impaired Driving and Breathalyzer Law: Recent Case Law by Keith R. Hamilton Table of Contents
• Impaired Driving and Other Criminal Code Driving Offences, 2nd ed. by Karen Jokinen & Peter Keen Table of Contents. Also available as an e-text
• Impaired Driving in Canada, 6th ed. by Joseph Kenkel Table of Contents
• Impaired Driving in Canada the Charter Cases, 4th ed. by Joseph Kenkel Table of Contents
• Understanding all Impaired Driving Devices: Their History, Problems, Foibles and Merits and Why These Devices and Support Systems Had to Come Into Existence by Paul D. Haines Table of Contents
• Wigmore on cannabis: the forensic toxicology of marijuana for lawyers and other medicolegal professionals by James G. Wigmore Table of Contents

Last revised July 27, 2023

• Tremeear’s Criminal Code: and the Following Related Statutes, Canada Evidence Act, Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Food and Drugs Act, Narcotic Control Act, Young Offenders Act by David Watt, Michelle K. Fuerst Table of Contents
• Crankshaw’s Criminal Code of Canada: R.S.C. 1985 by Gary P. Rodrigues Table of Contents
• Martin’s Annual Criminal Code by J.C. Martin Table of Contents
• Practitioner’s Criminal Code by Alan D. Gold Table of Contents
• Snow’s Annotated Criminal Code by Rod Heather Table of Contents

Last revised Apr. 6, 2023

• ICLR
• LexisAdvance® Quicklaw® 
• vLex Justis
• Westlaw Canada

• Canadian Criminal Cases (CCC)
• Criminal Reports (CR, CRNS)
• Motor Vehicle Reports (MVR)

A collection of the judgments of the Alberta Courts is available from CanLII. The official version of the reasons for judgment is the signed original or handwritten endorsement in the court file. If there is a question about the content of a judgment, the original court file takes precedence.

• CanLII – Alberta Court of Justice judgments
• CanLII – Court of King’s Bench judgments
• CanLII – Court of Appeal judgments

E-Resources

The Canadian Abridgment available on: Westlaw Canada

All Canadian Summaries, Canadian Case Summaries and Canada Digest are available on: LexisAdvance® Quicklaw®

Print Resources

Drinking, Drugs and Driving Law

Statutes

• Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c C-46

       *Especially s 253 to s 261

• s 253 –         Operation while impaired
• s 254 –         Definitions, Testing for presence of alcohol or a drug, etc.
• s 254.1 –      Regulations
• s 255 –         Punishment
• s 256 –         Warrants to obtain blood samples
• s 257 –         No offence committed
• s 258 –         Proceedings under section 255
• s 259-260 –  Prohibitions
• s 261 –         Stay of order pending appeal

Regulated Regulations under the Criminal Code

• Approved Breath Analysis Instruments Order, SI/85-201
• Approved Screening Devices Order, SI/85-200
• Evaluation of Impaired Operation (Drugs and Alcohol) Regulations, SOR/2008-196
• Order Approving Blood Sample Containers, SOR/2005-37

Federal Acts and Regulations can be found electronically at:

• Canadian Legal Information Institute (CANLII)
• Justice Laws Website

Statutes

• Traffic Safety Act, RSA 2000, c T-6

       Search for “impaired”, “alcohol” or “drugs”

Related Regulations under the Traffic Safety Act

• Commercial Vehicle Safety, Alta Reg 121/2009
• Demerit Point Program and Service of Documents Regulation, Alta Reg 331/2002
• Operator Licensing and Vehicle Control Regulation, Alta Reg 320/2002
• Vehicle Seizure and Removal Regulation, Alta Reg 251/2006

To access or purchase the official version, go to: Alberta King’s Printer

Canadian encyclopedic digest (C.E.D.) (Western), 4th ed.

Sections related to Impaired Driving include:

• Constitutional Law. 
• Criminal law – Defences.
• Criminal law – Offences.
  • Driving Offences
• Criminal Law – Procedure. 
• Motor Vehicles. 
• Sentencing.
  • Driving Offences

The CED provides discussion of these areas of law with annotations to legislation and case law.  Additional information may be found by searching the indexes or database using the keywords “impaired driving,”  “driving while impaired,” “breathalyzer,” “breath sample,” “blood sample,” etc.

Also available electronically through: Westlaw Canada

Halsbury’s laws of Canada is a multi-volume set includes coverage of Federal, Provincial & Territorial legislation.

Also available electronically through: LexisAdvance® Quicklaw®

Titles related to Impaired Driving include:

• Constitutional Law (Charter of Rights) (HCHR)
• Criminal Offences (HCR)
• Evidence (HEV)
• Motor Vehicles (HMV)
• Public Health (HPH)

Additional information may be found under other topical headings.

• Index to Canadian Legal Literature (ICLL) available electronically on Westlaw Canada and Lexis Advance® Quicklaw®
• Current Index to Legal Periodicals – Available electronically on HeinOnline

• LexisAdvance® Quicklaw® includes Impaired Driving NetLetter by the Hon. Justice Joseph F. Kenkel and other materials.
• Westlaw Canada includes Segal’s Motor Vehicle and Impaired Driving Newsletter and contains a collection of Canadian journals and law reviews, as well as all articles and case comments appearing in Carswell law reports.
• HeinOnline – includes the Criminal Law Quarterly and Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Provides full-text access to Canadian and international law reviews and legal journals.
• vLex Justis

• Canada Criminal Law Review
• Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice – Abstracts also available online
• Criminal Law Quarterly
• For the Defence Criminal Lawyers’ Association Newsletter
• Motor Vehicle Reports (Articles)

Last revised Apr. 6, 2023