Criminal Code

Marginal note:Definitions

• 254 (1) In this section and sections 254.1 to 258.1,

  analyst

  analyst means a person designated by the Attorney General as an analyst for the purposes of section 258; (analyste)

  approved container

  approved container means a container of a kind that is approved by order of the Attorney General of Canada under paragraph 254.01(d); (contenant approuvé)

  approved drug screening equipment

  approved drug screening equipment means equipment of a kind that is approved by order of the Attorney General of Canada under paragraph 254.01(b); (matériel de détection des drogues approuvé)

  approved instrument

  approved instrument means an instrument of a kind that is approved by order of the Attorney General of Canada under paragraph 254.01(c); (alcootest approuvé)

  approved screening device

  approved screening device means a device of a kind that is approved by order of the Attorney General of Canada under paragraph 254.01(a); (appareil de détection approuvé)

  evaluating officer

  evaluating officer means a peace officer who is qualified under the regulations to conduct evaluations under subsection (3.1); (agent évaluateur)

  qualified medical practitioner

  qualified medical practitioner means a person duly qualified by provincial law to practise medicine; (médecin qualifié)

  qualified technician

  qualified technician means,

  • (a) in respect of breath samples, a person designated by the Attorney General as being qualified to operate an approved instrument, and

  • (b) in respect of blood samples, any person or person of a class of persons designated by the Attorney General as being qualified to take samples of blood for the purposes of this section and sections 256 and 258. (technicien qualifié)

• Marginal note: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, the peace officer may, by demand, require the person to comply with the requirements of either or both of paragraphs (a) and (c), in the case of a drug, or with the requirements of either or both of paragraphs (a) and (b), in the case of alcohol:

  • (a) to perform forthwith physical coordination tests prescribed by regulation to enable the peace officer to determine whether a demand may be made under subsection (3) or (3.1) and, if necessary, to accompany the peace officer for that purpose;

  • (b) to provide forthwith a sample of breath 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; and

  • (c) to forthwith provide a sample of a bodily substance that, in the peace officer’s opinion, is necessary to enable a proper analysis to be made by means of approved drug screening equipment and to accompany the peace officer for that purpose.

• Marginal note:Video recording

  (2.1) For greater certainty, a peace officer may make a video recording of a performance of the physical coordination tests referred to in paragraph (2)(a).

• Marginal note:Samples of breath or blood

  (3) If a peace officer has reasonable grounds to believe that a person is committing, or at any time within the preceding three hours has committed, an offence under section 253 as a result of the consumption of alcohol, the peace officer may, by demand made as soon as practicable, require the person

  • (a) to provide, as soon as practicable,

    • (i) samples of breath that, in a qualified technician’s opinion, will enable a proper analysis to be made to determine the concentration, if any, of alcohol in the person’s blood, or

    • (ii) if the peace officer has reasonable grounds to believe that, because of their physical condition, the person may be incapable of providing a sample of breath or it would be impracticable to obtain a sample of breath, 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 the concentration, if any, of alcohol in the person’s blood; and

  • (b) if necessary, to accompany the peace officer for that purpose.

• Marginal note:Evaluation and samples

  (3.1) If a peace officer has reasonable grounds to believe that a person is committing, or at any time within the preceding three hours has committed, an offence under paragraph 253(1)(a) as a result of the consumption of a drug or of a combination of alcohol and a drug, or has committed an offence under subsection 253(3), the peace officer may, by demand made as soon as practicable, require the person

  • (a) to submit, as soon as practicable, to an evaluation conducted by an evaluating officer to determine whether the 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, and to accompany the peace officer for that purpose; or

  • (b) to provide, as soon as practicable, the samples of blood that, in the opinion of the qualified medical practitioner or qualified technician taking the samples, are necessary to enable a proper analysis to be made to determine the person’s blood drug concentration, or the person’s blood drug concentration and blood alcohol concentration, as the case may be, and to accompany the peace officer for that purpose.

• Marginal note:Video recording

  (3.2) For greater certainty, a peace officer may make a video recording of an evaluation referred to in subsection (3.1).

• Marginal note:Testing for presence of alcohol

  (3.3) If the evaluating officer has reasonable grounds to suspect that the person has alcohol in their body and if a demand was not made under subsection (3), the evaluating officer may, by demand made as soon as practicable, require the person to provide, as soon as practicable, a sample of breath that, in the evaluating officer’s opinion, will enable a proper analysis to be made by means of an approved instrument.

• Marginal note:Samples of bodily substances

  (3.4) If, on completion of the evaluation, the evaluating officer has reasonable grounds to believe that the 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 evaluating officer may, by demand made as soon as practicable, require the person to provide, as soon as practicable,

  • (a) a sample of either oral fluid or urine that, in the 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) 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.

• Marginal note:Admissibility of evaluating officer’s opinion

  (3.5) An evaluating officer’s opinion relating to the impairment, by a drug of a type that they identified, or by a combination of alcohol and that drug, of a person’s ability to operate a motor vehicle, vessel, aircraft or railway equipment is admissible in evidence without qualifying the evaluating officer as an expert.

• Marginal note:Presumption — drug

  (3.6) If the analysis of a sample provided under paragraph (3.4)(b) demonstrates that the person has a drug in their body that is of a type that the evaluating officer has identified as impairing the person’s ability to operate a motor vehicle, vessel, aircraft or railway equipment, that drug — or, if the person has also consumed alcohol, the combination of alcohol and that drug — is presumed, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, to be the drug, or the combination of alcohol and that drug, that was present in the person’s body at the time when the person operated the motor vehicle, vessel, aircraft or railway equipment and, on proof of the person’s impairment, to have been the cause of that impairment.

• Marginal note:Condition

  (4) Samples of blood may be taken from a person under subsection (3) or (3.4) only by a qualified medical practitioner, or a qualified technician, who is satisfied that taking the samples would not endanger the person’s life or health.

• Marginal note:Failure or refusal to comply with demand

  (5) Everyone commits an offence who, without reasonable excuse, fails or refuses to comply with a demand made under this section.

• Marginal note:Only one determination of guilt

  (6) A person who is convicted of an offence under subsection (5) for a failure or refusal to comply with a demand may not be convicted of another offence under that subsection in respect of the same transaction.