10 years (base) / 14 years (bodily harm) / life (death)
Critical section for immigration. Since Bill C-46 (December 2018), impaired driving carries a maximum 10-year sentence, making it serious criminality under IRPA s.36(1). A single DUI conviction can now bar entry to Canada. Previously classified as criminality under s.36(2) with a 5-year maximum.
(1) Everyone commits an offence who (a) operates a conveyance while the person's ability to operate it is impaired to any degree by alcohol or a drug or by a combination of alcohol and a drug; (b) subject to subsection (5), has, within two hours after ceasing to operate a conveyance, a blood alcohol concentration that is equal to or exceeds 80 mg of alcohol in 100 mL of blood; (c) subject to subsection (6), has, within two hours after ceasing to operate a conveyance, a blood drug concentration that is equal to or exceeds the blood drug concentration for the drug that is prescribed by regulation; or (d) subject to subsection (7), has, within two hours after ceasing to operate a conveyance, a blood alcohol concentration and a blood drug concentration that is equal to or exceeds the blood alcohol concentration and the blood drug concentration for the drug that are prescribed by regulation for instances where alcohol and that drug are combined. (2) Operation causing bodily harm: Everyone commits an offence who commits an offence under subsection (1) and who, while operating the conveyance, causes bodily harm to another person. (3) Operation causing death: Everyone commits an offence who commits an offence under subsection (1) and who, while operating the conveyance, causes the death of another person. (4) Operation with low blood drug concentration: Subject to subsection (6), everyone commits an offence who has, within two hours after ceasing to operate a conveyance, a blood drug concentration that is equal to or exceeds the blood drug concentration for the drug that is prescribed by regulation and that is less than the concentration prescribed for the purposes of paragraph (1)(c). (5) Exception for alcohol: No person commits an offence under paragraph (1)(b) if (a) they consumed alcohol after ceasing to operate the conveyance; (b) after ceasing to operate the conveyance, they had no reasonable expectation that they would be required to provide a sample of breath or blood; and (c) their alcohol consumption is consistent with their blood alcohol concentration as determined in accordance with subsection 320.31(1) or (2) and with their having had, at the time when they were operating the conveyance, a blood alcohol concentration that was less than 80 mg of alcohol in 100 mL of blood. (6) Exception for drugs: No person commits an offence under paragraph (1)(c) or subsection (4) if (a) they consumed the drug after ceasing to operate the conveyance; and (b) after ceasing to operate the conveyance, they had no reasonable expectation that they would be required to provide a sample of a bodily substance. (7) Exception for combination of alcohol and drug: No person commits an offence under paragraph (1)(d) if (a) they consumed the drug or the alcohol or both after ceasing to operate the conveyance; (b) after ceasing to operate the conveyance, they had no reasonable expectation that they would be required to provide a sample of a bodily substance; and (c) their alcohol consumption is consistent with their blood alcohol concentration as determined in accordance with subsection 320.31(1) or (2) and with their having had, at the time when they were operating the conveyance, a blood alcohol concentration less than the blood alcohol concentration established under paragraph 320.38(c).