Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee, for this opportunity to speak with you about Bill C-28.
My name is Eric Dumschat, and I am the legal director for Mothers Against Drunk Driving Canada, or as it's more colloquially known, MADD Canada. I am pleased to have this opportunity to speak with you today about this topic as it is one that I know has caused many of our members some confusion.
Simply put, MADD Canada cannot provide an opinion on this bill because it does not affect impaired driving.
When the Supreme Court of Canada decision in May of this year effectively allowed for the use of “extreme intoxication” as a defence for certain violent crimes, MADD Canada heard from many members of the public. While the defence could only be used in very limited circumstances, there was widespread public discussion and fears that those charged with impaired driving or with numerous other Criminal Code offences could now use voluntary extreme intoxication as a defence to escape responsibility and accountability for their actions.
With respect to impaired driving, we assured concerned citizens at the time that the ruling would not impact impaired driving cases. This is because impairment is the essence of an impaired driving offence, whereas it is not for other crimes, such as assault. In short, voluntary self-induced extreme intoxication is not a defence for impaired driving.
In R. v. Brown, paragraphs 66 and 78, the Supreme Court noted:
Parliament can constitutionally preclude intoxication as a defence if it is the gravamen of the offence.
It noted later:
The Crown is mistaken when it draws an analogy between impaired driving offences and s. 33.1. The gravamen of the offence faced by Mr. Brown does not include intoxication, unlike criminal offences for impaired driving.
Counsel for Mr. Sullivan made the point plainly: “The gravamen of assault is not intoxication. Without intoxication, every element of an assault [must] be proven; without intoxication, driving is benign.”
This case did nothing to change the inapplicability of this defence in the impaired driving context. As such, MADD Canada was satisfied that the May Supreme Court ruling on extreme intoxication as a defence would not impact cases of impaired driving.
I thank the committee for its time and would be happy to answer any questions once we have question period.