Justice committee  It's largely a training issue, although approved screening devices are not administered in Canada, at least to my knowledge, in an individual's own vehicle. The individual is escorted back to the police vehicle. They are put in safe conditions, away from traffic, in the back of t

Justice committee  I would like to answer that, but since my German isn't all that good and Dräger writes most of their stuff in German, I haven't been able to find out. Their recommendation is very short: “Push the OK button and do a passive test.” Probably because I have more technical data fro

Justice committee  Yes, it's for that one specific device. As I say, I don't want the committee to misapprehend me: all these devices will have their own recommendations. That is why, as the alcohol test committee in Canada, we would have to set a standard that all must meet. You can't have all k

Justice committee  I do not have specific information about that. The time leading up to my attendance at this committee was reasonably short. I haven't had time to do that. As I say, my professional life sometimes gets in the way of my volunteer activities. I had four trials prior to this meeting

Justice committee  The short answer is no. I've never seen that suggested. The actual reaction produces carbon dioxide. I said I wasn't going to give you my lecture, but I will give you a lecture now. The alcohol is broken down first into acetic acid, which we all know as vinegar, and in the pr

Justice committee  No, it should not.

Justice committee  The answer is that it will probably have a different standard than our others. Our approved instrument standards are more rigorous than our approved screening device standards because they are fit for a purpose. Evidentiary-approved instruments are the instruments that can me

Justice committee  It may well be, but we have to take into account things that we don't take into account with screening devices. We've talked about a lot today. We have to take into account things like environmental influences. That could add dimensions to the testing of these devices that do not

Justice committee  Well, I'll try to answer as well as I can. My experience with police officers, and I mean no disrespect, is that if you give officers a tool with all kinds of caveats attached to it—you have to do it this way, that way, make sure the wind isn't blowing, have your back to the win

Justice committee  The short answer is no, because I don't buy these things. I borrow these from my home lab. The police services buy their own. Often the costing is based on bulk purchase. It's something that could be easily found out.

Justice committee  Good afternoon, everyone. The alcohol test committee of the Canadian Society of Forensic Science has provided independent scientific advice to the Minister of Justice on the detection and quantification of blood alcohol concentrations for the past 50 years. We are a group of ded

Justice committee  It leaves little concern for me because, based on what I said about a previous action, I don't think you'll ever see a zero in front of a court. There's no breath tech that I've trained, and I've probably trained thousands, who would ever do a test on someone they knew to be 24 h

Justice committee  Given the savings and resources that could be affected, I understand why that section is there. Given that it's possibly doing me out of a job, I'm not sure about that.

Justice committee  Of course, that's a joke. Realistically, as I said, I don't think there is any opportunity for prejudice to the accused individual with that approach.

Justice committee  That was just a joke or a poor one, that the judges now have to add five every half hour and they may need a calculator to do it.