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Criminal Code

s. 320.14 Operation While Impaired

Operation while impaired

  • Impaired Driving & Transportation
  • Impaired Driving
Maximum sentence
10 years (base) / 14 years (bodily harm) / life (death)
Classification
Hybrid

Last verified: June 2026 · Source: laws-lois.justice.gc.ca

The law says

Criminal Code s. 320.14
Verify on justice.gc.ca(opens in a new tab)
  • (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)Everyone commits an offence who commits an offence under subsection (1) and who, while operating the conveyance, causes bodily harm to another person.
  • (3)Everyone commits an offence who commits an offence under subsection (1) and who, while operating the conveyance, causes the death of another person.
  • (4)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)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)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)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).
Amendment History (1)
  • 2018, c. 21, s. 15

Justice Laws is the authoritative version. If this copy and it ever differ, Justice Laws wins.

Immigration

Where this offence sits under IRPA

This section matters a great deal for immigration. Bill C-46 took effect in December 2018. Since then, impaired driving carries a top sentence of 10 years, which makes it serious criminality under IRPA s.36(1). A single DUI conviction can now bar entry to Canada. Before the change, it was criminality under s.36(2) (foreign nationals only), with a top sentence of 5 years.

This is how the law sorts the offence, not a reading of any one record. An officer decides each case.

IRPA sections involved