10. Judge, jury, executioner.
Although this is a common complaint, the police have no discretion under the law. So in a sense there is no judge or jury.
9. Punishment long before any hearing.
Most people are prohibited for 21 days or thereabouts before they get a decision from the tribunal. So in essence you are sentenced before your hearing.
8. Charter Rights not protected.
The OSMV tribunal doesn’t grant remedies for violations of Charter Rights so the police know they can disregard your rights without fear of consequence.
7. No indication of what the blood-alcohol level might have been.
The ASDs used in BC don’t tell you a numeric reading above .06. If you had two drinks and the reading was .350 even the officer might notice the reading was wrong. But the ASDs will not display your actual BAC level.
6. Only 30 minutes allowed for a hearing.
The OSMV made a policy decision to cut people off at 30 minutes. They’ll only listen to you for 30 minutes. If your key witness was to testify and your 30 minutes are up, bad luck for you.
5. Personal circumstances and driving history not considered.
The law doesn’t allow you to argue that you’re a good person with 30 years of problem-free driving. Or that you need your licence to drive underprivileged kids for cancer treatment. Don’t laugh. It’s true.
4. No full disclosure.
Most people think we should be able to get a copy of the police officer’s notes or the video after the Court gave that direction in Spencer. No dice. The police disclose practically nothing and the OSMV won’t help you get the evidence to prove yourself innocent.
3. No chance to cross-examine the officer.
In criminal cases disclosure and cross examination allows lawyers in court to get to the bottom of what happened by challenging the witnesses in cross-examination. Under the IRP laws you can’t challenge the evidence of the police.
2. ASD can’t be programmed to display “Wasted.”
For a few dollars more per unit the Government could have purchased roadside breathalyzers that would save the test results, display the actual BAC and print off the readings. You can’t trust a device that can give a Fail when you’re sober.
1. I’d rather go to court.
Court is not much fun. However, if you’re innocent, it’s not likely that you’ll be wrongly convicted. We can make no such assurance with the IRP laws. We know that many innocent people end up with IRPs.
I understand that our government wants to reduce impaired driving deaths (they will never completely eliminate them) but removing the safeguards of due process is an unacceptable course of action. This is how the legal system is abused in states which Canada likes to claim are inferior due to our “rule of law”.
B.C. has taken a page from the the totalitarian mindset and our courts have let it slide with barely a negative ruling.