The Ontario Court of Justice considered whether a section 10(b) Charter breach occurred when police allowed the accused to speak to a paralegal instead of a lawyer after arrest for impaired driving and over 80 mg alcohol in blood.
The court found a breach because a paralegal is not authorized to provide legal advice in impaired driving cases, and police should have known this.
Despite the breach, applying the three-part Grant test, the court declined to exclude the breath sample evidence, finding the breach was of moderate seriousness, the impact on the accused’s rights was moderate, and society’s interest in reliable evidence favored inclusion.
The accused was found guilty on the over 80 mg charge.
