DUI / Impaired Driving

Understanding the charge

If you have been arrested or charged after a traffic stop in Toronto, North York, or anywhere in the Greater Toronto Area, you are probably feeling a mix of shock, worry, and confusion right now. That is completely normal. Impaired driving charges move quickly, the language police and courts use is unfamiliar, and the stakes for your licence, your job, and your future feel enormous. This page is meant to give you clear, general information about what you are facing under Canadian law so that you can understand your situation before you sit down with a lawyer to talk about your specific case.

Impaired driving in Canada is governed by the Criminal Code, specifically sections 320.14 and 320.15, which were substantially rewritten in the 2018 reforms. These provisions replaced the old "over 80" and impaired driving offences with a modernized framework, but the core ideas will still feel familiar if you have heard those older terms used by friends, family, or the media.

The main offences you may be charged with

Under section 320.14(1), there are several distinct ways the Crown can allege that you committed an impaired driving offence. Understanding which one (or which combination) applies to you matters a great deal, because each has a slightly different evidentiary path.

• Impaired operation (s. 320.14(1)(a)): operating a motor vehicle, vessel, aircraft, or railway equipment while your ability to do so is impaired to any degree by alcohol, a drug, or a combination of the two. This is a fact-based, observational offence — it depends on what the officer saw, heard, and documented about your driving pattern, your speech, your coordination, and your behaviour.
• "Over 80" (s. 320.14(1)(b)): having a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) at or over 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood within two hours of having operated the vehicle. This is often called the "over 80" charge, and it turns heavily on breath or blood testing results rather than on how you appeared to be driving.
• Excess blood-drug concentration: having a concentration of a drug (such as THC) in your blood that is over the legal limit set out in regulations, again measured within two hours of driving.
• Refusal or failure to comply (s. 320.15): failing or refusing, without a reasonable excuse, to comply with a demand made by police for a breath sample, a blood sample, or to perform physical coordination testing. This is treated as seriously as the underlying impaired driving offence itself, and in some respects the mandatory minimum penalties are just as significant.

Roadside screening and what police need to demand a sample

One of the more significant 2018 changes was the introduction of mandatory alcohol screening under section 320.27(2). Before this change, an officer generally needed a reasonable suspicion that you had alcohol in your body before demanding a roadside breath sample. Now, if police have an approved screening device with them and you are lawfully stopped, they can demand a sample without first needing that individualized suspicion. This is one of the more heavily litigated aspects of impaired driving law in Canada today, and it is a big part of why speaking with a lawyer about the specific circumstances of your stop is so important.

None of this means a charge automatically leads to a conviction. The Crown must prove every element of the offence beyond a reasonable doubt, and that includes technical requirements about how and when samples were demanded, how they were taken, and whether your rights were respected throughout. We describe some of the ways those requirements get tested later on this page.

Penalties & sentencing

Impaired driving offences in Canada are hybrid offences, meaning the Crown can choose to proceed by summary conviction or by indictment depending on the circumstances and severity of the allegation. That choice affects the maximum penalties available and some of the procedural steps in your case, so it is worth understanding early.

Mandatory minimum penalties

Parliament has set mandatory minimum penalties for impaired driving and related offences, meaning a judge has no discretion to go below them even for a first-time offender with an otherwise clean record. These minimums escalate quickly with repeat findings of guilt:

• First offence: a mandatory minimum fine of $1,000. Where the measured blood alcohol concentration is higher, the mandatory minimum fine increases — the higher the reading, the higher the mandatory floor the court must impose.
• Second offence: a mandatory minimum of 30 days in jail.
• Third or subsequent offence: a mandatory minimum of 120 days in jail.

Refusing or failing to comply with a breath, blood, or coordination demand carries its own mandatory minimum penalties, and in practice they track closely with the penalties for the underlying impaired driving or over 80 offence. This is intentional — Parliament did not want refusal to become a way of avoiding the consequences of impaired driving.

Maximum penalties

The 2018 reforms increased the maximum available penalties for impaired driving offences. On indictment, the maximum can reach up to 10 years' imprisonment in certain circumstances, and where the offence causes bodily harm or death, the maximums increase further still, reflecting the seriousness with which Parliament and the courts treat impaired driving that results in injury or loss of life. Most first-time cases without aggravating factors proceed summarily, where the available range is lower, but the Crown's decision on how to proceed is made based on the facts of your case, your record, and the harm (if any) that resulted.

Mandatory driving prohibition

On top of any fine or jail sentence, a conviction for an impaired driving offence carries a mandatory driving prohibition order under the Criminal Code. This is separate and distinct from the administrative licence suspension imposed by the province at the roadside (discussed in the next section), and it operates as a criminal sentence in its own right. The length of the prohibition generally increases with each subsequent offence and can be affected by aggravating factors in your case.

Sentencing factors judges consider

Beyond the mandatory minimums, a sentencing judge will weigh aggravating and mitigating factors, including the measured BAC or level of impairment, whether anyone was injured, your prior record, whether you cooperated with police, and your personal circumstances. Every case is different, and how these factors interact with the mandatory minimum framework is exactly the kind of analysis a lawyer walks through with you based on the disclosure in your file.

Beyond the sentence

For many people, the criminal penalties described above are only part of what worries them. An impaired driving charge triggers a cascade of administrative and practical consequences that begin the moment you are stopped, long before any court date, and that can follow you well after any criminal case is resolved.

Immediate roadside consequences in Ontario

Separately from the criminal charge, Ontario's Highway Traffic Act gives police the power to impose administrative penalties right at the roadside, independent of whatever happens later in the Ontario Court of Justice:

• Administrative Driver's Licence Suspension (ADLS): an immediate 90-day suspension of your driving privileges, applied on the spot in many circumstances involving a fail or refusal on a screening device.
• 7-day vehicle impoundment: your vehicle can be impounded for a week at your expense, adding towing and storage costs on top of everything else.

These administrative consequences happen regardless of how your criminal charge is ultimately resolved, which is part of why so many people feel like they are already being punished before they have even had a chance to respond to the allegation in court.

Licence reinstatement, interlock, and remedial programs

If you are convicted, or in some cases as a condition of getting your licence back, Ontario requires participation in additional programs before driving privileges are restored:

• Ignition Interlock Program: a device installed in your vehicle that requires a clean breath sample before the engine will start, generally required for a set period as a condition of reinstatement.
• "Back on Track" program: a mandatory remedial education and treatment screening program administered through the Ministry of Transportation, required before full reinstatement in many cases.
• Reinstatement fees: administrative fees payable to the province before your licence is restored, on top of any fines ordered by the court.

Insurance

An impaired driving conviction is one of the most significant events that can happen to your driving record from an insurance standpoint. Premiums typically increase substantially, some insurers may decline to renew your policy at all, and elevated rates or the need to seek coverage through a higher-risk insurer can last for years after the conviction.

Employment

If your job requires you to drive — whether that is a delivery route, a sales territory, operating heavy equipment, or simply commuting where transit is not realistic — a licence suspension or driving prohibition can put your income at immediate risk. For jobs that require a clean criminal record, professional licensing, bondability, or the ability to cross the border, a conviction can create complications that last well beyond the sentence itself.

Travel to the United States

Many Canadians do not realize that a DUI-related criminal record can create serious difficulty entering the United States. U.S. border authorities can deny entry to individuals with impaired driving convictions, and resolving that down the road often requires a separate American waiver process. If cross-border travel matters to you for work or family reasons, this is a consequence worth discussing candidly with a lawyer.

Immigration consequences

For permanent residents, work permit holders, or others without Canadian citizenship, a criminal conviction — including impaired driving — can have immigration consequences depending on individual circumstances. This is a specialized area, and anyone in this position should raise it directly and early with their lawyer so it can be factored into how the case is approached.

The criminal record itself

A conviction results in a criminal record, which can appear in background checks used by employers, landlords, and volunteer organizations, particularly those involving vulnerable people or driving duties. Down the road, it may be possible to apply for a record suspension (formerly called a pardon) through the Parole Board of Canada once eligibility requirements and waiting periods are met, but this is a separate, general process with its own criteria — it is not automatic, and no outcome can be promised. It is simply worth knowing the option generally exists so you understand the fuller picture, not just the immediate one.

Defences & strategy

Being charged is not the same as being convicted. Impaired driving cases often turn on technical, evidentiary, and constitutional issues that are not obvious to someone without legal training, which is exactly why a careful review of the disclosure in your file matters so much. The following are examples of the kinds of issues that get examined in these cases — whether any of them apply to your situation depends entirely on the specific facts, and that assessment should be made with a lawyer.

Charter-based defences

• Section 8 — unreasonable search or seizure: Did police have lawful grounds for the search, the demand, or the seizure of evidence involved in your case? If a demand or search was not properly grounded, evidence obtained as a result may be challenged.
• Section 9 — arbitrary detention: Was the initial stop or ongoing detention lawfully justified, or did it extend beyond what the circumstances allowed?
• Section 10(b) — right to counsel: Were you properly informed, without delay, of your right to retain and instruct a lawyer, and were you given a real opportunity to exercise that right before being required to provide samples or answer questions?

Where a Charter breach is established, a court can consider excluding evidence obtained as a result of that breach, which can significantly affect the Crown's ability to prove the case.

Evidentiary and technical issues

• Grounds for the specific demand made: whether police had the lawful basis required for the particular demand — screening device, evidentiary breath instrument, blood sample, or coordination testing — that was made of you.
• Approved instrument reliability: whether the breath testing instrument (such as an Intoxilyzer-type device) was properly maintained, calibrated, and operated by a qualified technician, and whether the readings can be relied upon as accurate.
• Disclosure of maintenance and calibration records: the defence is generally entitled to disclosure of the instrument's maintenance history and calibration records, and gaps or irregularities in that documentation can be significant.
• Timing of samples: whether samples were taken within the timeframes required by law and whether the relationship between the reading and the time of driving was properly established.

"Care or control" issues

Not everyone charged with impaired driving was seen actually driving. Someone found asleep in a parked car, or sitting in the driver's seat with the engine off, can still be charged if the Crown alleges they had "care or control" of the vehicle. Whether the facts actually support a finding of care or control — considering things like where the keys were, whether the vehicle could realistically be put in motion, and the person's intentions — is a genuine legal question that gets carefully examined in these cases.

Medical and non-alcohol explanations

Certain medical conditions, medications, diet, or other physiological factors can affect breath readings or produce symptoms (such as slurred speech, unsteadiness, or the odour of certain substances) that resemble impairment without actually involving impairment by alcohol or drugs. Where relevant, these explanations are explored with appropriate expert or medical evidence.

None of the above is a guarantee that any particular defence will succeed in your case — every one of these issues depends on the specific facts, the disclosure, and the evidence gathered by police. What matters is that these avenues exist and deserve a careful, methodical review before you decide how to proceed.

The court process

Understanding what happens next can make an overwhelming situation feel more manageable. Impaired driving charges in Ontario are prosecuted in the Ontario Court of Justice, and while every case has its own timeline, most follow a broadly similar path.

Arrest and roadside process

Your case begins at the roadside stop, whether that was a traffic stop, a R.I.D.E. checkpoint, or an interaction following a collision. This is where screening demands, arrest, breath or blood sample demands, and any administrative licence suspension or vehicle impoundment typically happen. What is said and done here — by you and by police — often becomes central evidence later in the case, which is one reason it matters to speak with a lawyer as early as possible.

First appearance

Your first court date is generally administrative in nature. It is an opportunity to confirm you have retained counsel (or to request time to do so), to have disclosure requested, and to set a timeline for the case going forward. You are not expected to argue your case at this stage.

Disclosure

The Crown is required to provide disclosure — the evidence it intends to rely on, including police notes, breath or blood test results, maintenance and calibration records for testing instruments, video or dash-cam footage where it exists, and witness statements. Reviewing disclosure carefully is where many of the technical and Charter issues described earlier come into focus, since it is often only once the full record is available that gaps or irregularities become visible.

Judicial pretrial and resolution discussions

Before a matter proceeds to trial, there is typically a judicial pretrial — a meeting involving the defence, the Crown, and a judge, held to discuss the issues in the case, the strength of the evidence, and whether any resolution is appropriate. This is a normal and important stage of virtually every criminal case, not a sign that anything is going wrong. It is simply where both sides candidly assess the file.

Trial

If the matter is not resolved beforehand, it proceeds to trial in the Ontario Court of Justice. The Crown must prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt, calling police and, where relevant, expert witnesses. The defence can cross-examine Crown witnesses, bring Charter applications where appropriate, and call evidence of its own. Timelines vary considerably depending on court availability and the complexity of the issues raised.

Throughout each of these stages, decisions made early — including what is said at the roadside and how quickly you seek legal advice — can affect what options remain available later. That is why reaching out promptly after being charged, rather than waiting, tends to preserve the most flexibility for how your case is handled.

How we defend you

Gambriani Law PC is a criminal defence practice based in North York, serving clients across Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area in both English and Farsi. Principal lawyer Sourena Sarbazevatan brings more than 10 years of experience and appears at all levels of Ontario's courts, from the Ontario Court of Justice through to higher courts where matters require it.

When someone comes to us after being charged with an impaired driving offence, the starting point is always the same: a careful, methodical review of the disclosure and the specific facts of the stop, the testing, and the procedure followed by police. Every impaired driving file is different — the same charge can look completely different depending on how the stop unfolded, what equipment was used, how it was documented, and what was or was not said about your Charter rights.

What that review generally looks like

• Reading the disclosure line by line, including officer notes, technician certificates, and maintenance or calibration records for any testing device used.
• Identifying whether the grounds existed for each demand made of you, and whether the timing and procedure required by the Criminal Code were followed.
• Considering whether your rights under the Charter — including the right to be free from arbitrary detention and the right to retain and instruct counsel without delay — were respected at each stage.
• Assessing whether "care or control" is even properly at issue, in cases where you were not observed actually driving.
• Discussing with you, in plain language, what the realistic paths forward look like based on everything above, so you can make informed decisions about your own case.

We communicate with clients in both English and Farsi, which matters a great deal when the details of your case, and the legal concepts involved, need to be discussed with precision and without a language barrier getting in the way. Whether you feel more comfortable describing what happened in Farsi or English, that conversation should happen in whichever language lets you explain your situation fully and accurately.

This page is general legal information, not legal advice about your specific circumstances. Every impaired driving case depends on its own facts, and nothing here should be read as a prediction or promise about how any particular case will turn out. The only way to know how the law applies to your situation is to sit down and go through the details together.

Why representation matters

It can be tempting, especially if this is your first time facing a criminal charge, to wonder whether you really need a lawyer at all — maybe you plan to just plead guilty and move on, or maybe you assume the outcome is already decided by the breath test result. Neither assumption accounts for how genuinely technical and procedure-dependent impaired driving law has become since the 2018 reforms.

The law is more technical than it looks

Mandatory alcohol screening, evidentiary breath instrument requirements, calibration and maintenance record-keeping, and the layered Charter protections that apply at every stage of a stop are not things most people encounter in daily life. A lawyer's job is to know these rules cold, apply them to the specific facts in your disclosure, and identify where the Crown's evidence is strong and where it may be vulnerable.

The stakes go well beyond the courtroom

As described earlier on this page, an impaired driving charge touches your licence, your insurance, your employment, your ability to travel, and potentially your immigration status, in addition to the criminal penalties themselves. Decisions about how to proceed should be made with a full understanding of all of these moving parts, not just the criminal charge in isolation.

Every decision has downstream effects

What you say at the roadside, how quickly you retain a lawyer, what happens at your first appearance, how disclosure is reviewed, and what is discussed at a judicial pretrial all shape what options are realistically available to you later in the process. Early, informed decisions tend to preserve more flexibility than decisions made under pressure without full information.

You deserve to understand your own case

Whatever happens with your matter, you are entitled to have the process, the evidence, and your options explained to you clearly, in a language you are comfortable in, by someone who has done this work at every level of Ontario's courts. That is what proper representation means in practice — not a guarantee of any particular result, but a genuine, careful advocate working through your case with you.

If you have been charged with an impaired driving offence anywhere in Toronto, North York, or the broader GTA, reaching out promptly — before your first court date if possible — gives you and your lawyer the most room to work with. This page is general information only; the right next step is a conversation about your specific situation.

Frequently asked questions