This enactment amends the Criminal Code to authorize the use of an approved screening device to detect the presence of drugs in the body of a person who was operating a vehicle or who had the care or control of a vehicle. It also authorizes the taking of samples of bodily substances to determine the concentration of drugs in a person’s body, based on physical coordination tests and the result of the analysis conducted using an approved screening device.

Preamble

Whereas the Commission on Narcotic Drugs of the United Nations, in its resolution 54/2 of March 2011, underscored the importance of prevention and enforcement measures to tackle the phenomenon of drug-impaired driving;

Whereas the Criminal Code does not currently allow peace officers to use roadside screening devices to detect efficiently the presence of drugs in impaired drivers;

Whereas roadside screening devices to detect drugs in impaired drivers have been used effectively in other countries, including Australia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States;

Now, therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

approved screening device means a device of a kind that is designed to ascertain the presence of alcohol in the blood of a person or of drugs in a person’s body and that is approved for the purposes of this section by order of the Attorney General of Canada; (appareil de détection approuvé)

Testing for presence of alcohol or a drug

(2) If a peace officer has reasonable grounds to suspect that a person has alcohol or a drug in their body and that the person has, within the preceding three hours, operated a motor vehicle or vessel, operated or assisted in the operation of an aircraft or railway equipment or had the care or control of a motor vehicle, a vessel, an aircraft or railway equipment, whether it was in motion or not, the peace officer may, by demand, require the person to comply with either or both of paragraphs (a) and (b) to enable the peace officer to determine whether a demand may be made under subsection (3), (3.‍1) or (3.‍4) :

• (a) to perform forthwith physical coordination tests prescribed by regulation and, if necessary, to accompany the peace officer for that purpose; and

• (b) to provide forthwith a sample of breath or oral fluid that, in the peace officer’s opinion, will enable a proper analysis to be made by means of an approved screening device and, if necessary, to accompany the peace officer for that purpose.

Samples of bodily substances

(3.‍4) If a peace officer, based on the physical coordination tests provided for in paragraph (2)‍(a) and the results of the analysis provided for in paragraph (2)‍(b), or an evaluating officer, based on the evaluation conducted under subsection (3.‍1), has reasonable grounds to believe that a person’s ability to operate a motor vehicle, a vessel, an aircraft or railway equipment is impaired by a drug or by a combination of alcohol and a drug, the peace officer may require the person, by demand made as soon as practicable, to comply with paragraph (a), or the evaluating officer may require the person, by demand made as soon as practicable, to comply with either or both of paragraphs (a) and (b),

• (a) to provide, as soon as practicable, a sample of either oral fluid or urine that, in the peace officer’s or evaluating officer’s opinion, will enable a proper analysis to be made to determine whether the person has a drug in their body; or

• (b) to provide, as soon as practicable, samples of blood that, in the opinion of the qualified medical practitioner or qualified technician taking the samples, will enable a proper analysis to be made to determine whether the person has a drug in their body.