\n
On Nov. 14, 2025, the top court issued extensive and detailed guidance for the bench and bar and settled conflicting caselaw among the provincial appellate courts, which have been divided over how to interpret the evidentiary requirements for impaired driving prosecutions under\u00a0Criminal Code<\/em>\u00a0amendments that Parliament enacted in 2018:\u00a0R.v. Rousselle<\/em>, 2025 SCC35;\u00a0R.v. Larocque<\/em>, 2025 SCC 36.<\/p>\nThe Supreme Court\u2019s majority dismissed separate conviction appeals from two New Brunswick drivers who were found guilty of \u201c80 and over\u201d offences, i.e. of having had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) equal to or exceeding 80 mg. of alcohol in 100 mL of blood within two hours of ceasing to operate a motor vehicle, contrary to s.320.14(1)(b) of the\u00a0Criminal Code<\/em>.<\/p>\n\u2026<\/p>\n
A leading defence counsel in impaired driving cases, Kyla Lee of Vancouver\u2019s Acumen Law Corporation, called it \u201ca dark day.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI had definitely hoped this decision would go a different way,\u201d she remarked. \u201cIt seems to me to be consistent, though, with the pattern of limiting the available defences for people charged with impaired driving. Even that was reflected in the arguments of the Crown, where they suggested that one of the reasons why they don\u2019t want to adduce the certificate of analyst in evidence is because then the accused and their counsel come up with all sorts of really technical arguments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lee said the court\u2019s statutory interpretation will change the common law mostly in Alberta and Quebec. British Columbia was undecided about the\u00a0Goldson\u00a0<\/em>approach, \u201cbut it was our Court of Appeal who wrote the MacDonald case in Yukon, so one would anticipate B.C. would end up going the same way if the issue ever made it there,\u201d she said. \u201cUltimately, what this means for clients is there\u2019s one less avenue of challenge to the introduction of the breath test results in evidence and the application of the presumptions.\u201d<\/p>\nLee said the new law \u201cis pretty clear as a result of this Supreme Court of Canada decision. The court sets out quite explicitly the avenues an accused person would have to challenge the information in the certificates, the obligation on the Crown to disclose, as well as when an accused person can apply to cross-examine an analyst. To the extent that those procedures are clarified by the court, it actually goes further than the other cases have gone in terms of giving guidance to counsel.\u201d<\/p>\n
She suggested the main takeaway for defence counsel \u201cis to make sure to look at your certificate evidence very closely. In particular, look at your certificate of analyst to identify any irregularities and to bring an application to cross-examine either the qualified technician or the analyst, or both, as the case may be.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also important, she advised, \u201cto identify when you are entitled to cross-examine either party if you\u2019re not given notice of intention to produce the certificate of analyst. You have no legal right to cross-examine the analyst, and so your only recourse is an application to cross-examine the qualified technician.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another takeaway \u201cis to make sure that the certificate covers off all of the necessary information to give you a meaningful opportunity to make a determination about whether to cross-examine the technician or the analyst,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n
Read more here.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Nov. 14, 2025, the top court issued extensive and detailed guidance for the bench and bar and settled conflicting caselaw among the provincial appellate courts, which have been divided over how to interpret the evidentiary requirements for impaired driving prosecutions under\u00a0Criminal Code\u00a0amendments that Parliament enacted in 2018:\u00a0R.v. Rousselle, 2025 SCC35;\u00a0R.v. Larocque, 2025 SCC 36. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":314508,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[31383,26550,36536,12794,650,144143,144144,67639,144142,10999,1820,16519,24672,33695],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-314507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal","tag-appellate","tag-clash","tag-convictions","tag-courts","tag-driving","tag-evidentiary","tag-impaired","tag-kyla","tag-kyla-lee","tag-media","tag-news","tag-requirements","tag-scc","tag-settles"],"yoast_head":"\n
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