Impaired Driving and DUI Lawyer in Toronto

Criminal Defence · Impaired Driving & DUI

Impaired Driving (DUI) Lawyer in Toronto

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Reviewed by Fadi Matthew Kazandji, Founding Partner, Kazandji Law · Toronto criminal defence · Last reviewed: October 2026

Being charged with impaired driving in Toronto is one of the most stressful experiences a person can face, and the consequences reach far past a single court date. Impaired driving is a criminal offence in Canada. A conviction means a permanent criminal record on top of escalating fines, a mandatory driving prohibition, soaring insurance costs, and compulsory provincial programs.

But these cases are also highly technical, and a carefully prepared defence frequently uncovers real problems with the traffic stop, the breath testing, or the way your Charter rights were handled. A charge is an accusation, not a conviction. At Kazandji Law, our criminal defence team represents drivers charged with impaired driving and related offences across Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area. This page walks you through exactly what you are facing under Ontario and federal law in 2026, how the court process works, and the defences that may apply to your case. If you would rather talk it through now, call 647-588-3234 for a free, confidential consultation.

You are far from alone. Statistics Canada recorded 71,602 police-reported impaired driving incidents nationally in 2023, and, encouragingly for the province. Ontario had the lowest impaired driving rate in Canada that year, at 103 incidents per 100,000 people.^[1] Impairment nonetheless remained a contributing factor in roughly one in five fatal collisions in Canada in 2023,^[2] which is why police, prosecutors, and the courts treat these charges so seriously, and why your defence needs to be taken just as seriously.

What counts as impaired driving in Ontario?

"DUI" is an American term, there is no offence in Canada literally called "DUI." The charges come from the Criminal Code of Canada, primarily sections 320.14 and 320.15, which were substantially reformed in December 2018. In everyday practice, five related charges come up again and again. Understanding which one you face matters, because the Crown has to prove different things for each, and the defences differ too.

1. Impaired operation, s. 320.14(1)(a)

This is the classic "impaired driving" charge: operating a conveyance while your ability to do so is impaired to any degree by alcohol, a drug, or a combination of the two. To secure a conviction, the Crown must prove both that you were operating the vehicle and that your ability to do so was impaired, and the phrase "to any degree" sets a low bar. Critically, this charge does not require a breath reading. An officer can rely purely on observations: weaving between lanes, the smell of alcohol, slurred speech, red or glassy eyes, fumbling for documents, difficulty with balance, or an admission. Because it rests on subjective observation, this charge is often vulnerable to careful cross-examination about what the officer actually saw, whether there is an innocent explanation (fatigue, a medical condition, nervousness), and whether those observations truly established impairment beyond a reasonable doubt.^[3]

2. "Over 80", s. 320.14(1)(b)

This charge is proven by the number: having a blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) at or over 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, measured within two hours of driving. You can be convicted of "over 80" even if you showed no outward signs of impairment at all, the reading itself is the offence. Since 2018, the law looks at your BAC within two hours of operating the vehicle rather than only "at the time of driving," a change that reshaped the old "I had my last drink just before driving" and rising-BAC arguments and introduced a narrow "intervening drink" exception. Our over 80 defence lawyers focus on whether the breath samples were lawfully obtained and whether the strict statutory conditions for treating them as conclusive proof of your BAC were actually met.^[3]

3. Refusing or failing to provide a sample, s. 320.15

Refusing, without a reasonable excuse, to comply with a lawful demand for a breath, blood, or drug sample is itself an offence, and it is not a loophole. A first refusal carries a higher mandatory minimum fine ($2,000) than a low-range "over 80." Many people refuse in the confusion and fear of an arrest, or provide a sample the machine registers as "insufficient", without realizing they are creating a second, sometimes more serious, charge. The Crown must prove that a valid demand was made, that you understood it, and that you failed or refused to comply without a reasonable excuse. If you are facing this, our refuse-sample lawyers examine whether the demand itself was lawful and whether a genuine reasonable excuse, such as a medical inability to provide a sample, applies.^[4]

4. Drug-impaired driving, s. 320.14(1)(c)

Since cannabis legalization, drug-impaired driving charges have risen sharply. These are based on a blood-drug concentration at or above a prescribed limit, or on a Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) evaluation combined with a bodily sample. Drug cases are among the most technical of all, the science linking a given concentration to actual impairment is newer and far more contested than it is for alcohol, and DRE evaluations depend heavily on the officer's training and adherence to a strict 12-step protocol. This is a core focus of our drug-impaired driving defence.^[3]

Two situations come up often enough to deserve their own pages. If cannabis is involved, the blood THC limits and the timing of the draw tend to drive the whole case, and we go through that on our page for drug related DUI charges in Toronto. If the substance was something a doctor prescribed, the analysis shifts again, and that one is covered under driving while on prescription medication.

5. Care and control (without driving)

You can be charged even if the car never moved. The law targets a person who is impaired and in a position to set the vehicle in motion, for example, sitting in the driver's seat with the keys after drinking, intending only to "sleep it off," or warming up the car in a driveway. The Crown must still prove a realistic risk that the vehicle could be set in motion and become dangerous. These cases turn on very specific facts, where you were sitting, where the keys were, your intention, and whether there was any real risk, and a well-argued care-and-control defence can succeed where a straightforward "impaired driving" charge might not.

Aggravated cases: bodily harm and death

Where impaired driving causes bodily harm or death, the charges become dramatically more serious, with far higher maximum penalties (discussed below) and a real prospect of a penitentiary sentence. These are among the most consequential cases we handle and demand an immediate, thorough, and often expert-supported defence.

How breath and blood testing actually works

Because so many impaired driving cases rise or fall on the breath evidence, it helps to understand the two very different tests involved, and where each can go wrong.

The roadside screening test uses a handheld Approved Screening Device (ASD). It is an investigative tool: a "fail" is not itself proof of your BAC and is not the offence, it simply gives the officer grounds to arrest you and demand the real test. The evidentiary test is done later at the station on a much more sophisticated Approved Instrument, operated by a qualified technician. The law requires two samples taken at least 15 minutes apart, along with a "system blank" test and a calibration check against an alcohol standard. Only when those conditions are satisfied are the results treated as conclusive proof of your BAC.^[3]

That precision cuts both ways. If the intervals were wrong, the calibration check was skipped or out of tolerance, the instrument threw error messages, or the qualified technician departed from the required procedure, the reliability of the readings can be challenged. Blood samples, used when breath testing is impractical or in drug cases, carry their own strict rules about how and when they may be taken. These technical requirements are precisely why the Crown must disclose the instrument records (see the court process below) and why an experienced lawyer reads them line by line.

Penalties for impaired driving in Ontario

The Criminal Code sets mandatory minimum penalties that a judge must impose on conviction, even for a first-time offender with a spotless record. There is no discharge available for impaired driving; the minimum fine is required by law. Impaired operation and "over 80" are hybrid offences, which means the Crown chooses whether to proceed by indictment (more serious) or by summary conviction.^[4]

For a first "over 80" offence, the minimum fine rises with your BAC, and a first refusal is treated most harshly of all:^[4]

Maximum penalties. If the Crown proceeds by indictment, impaired driving and over 80 carry up to 10 years in prison; by summary conviction, up to a $5,000 fine and/or two years less a day. Where impaired driving causes bodily harm, the maximum rises to 14 years; where it causes death, the maximum is life imprisonment.^[5]

Aggravating factors can push a sentence well above the minimum: a very high BAC, excessive speed or dangerous driving, having a child in the vehicle, causing an accident, or a prior record. The court's driving prohibition is a federal penalty that stacks on top of, and is separate from, the Ontario licence suspension described next. In other words, one impaired driving charge triggers two parallel systems of consequences: the criminal court and the Ontario Ministry of Transportation.

The real cost of a "first offence"

People often assume a first offence means "just" a $1,000 fine. In reality, once you add the mandatory victim fine surcharge, the licence reinstatement fee, the mandatory remedial program, ignition interlock installation and monthly rental, towing and impound fees, and years of high-risk insurance premiums, the true out-of-pocket cost of a first impaired driving conviction commonly runs into the thousands, often far more than the fine itself, before you even account for lost income or employment consequences. That gap between the headline fine and the real cost is exactly why fighting or minimizing the charge matters.

Ontario licence & administrative penalties (2026)

Long before your criminal case is decided, Ontario imposes its own immediate administrative penalties under the Highway Traffic Act. These apply regardless of the criminal outcome, an administrative suspension is not a criminal conviction, but it affects you the moment you are charged. Ontario updated several of these penalties effective January 1, 2026; the figures below reflect the current rules.^[6]

If you register 0.08+, fail, or refuse a test

• 90-day immediate licence suspension, starting at the roadside
• 7-day vehicle impoundment (you pay the towing and storage)
• $550 administrative monetary penalty
• Mandatory education or treatment program, plus an ignition interlock condition on repeat occurrences

"Warn range" (BAC 0.05 to 0.079)

Even below the criminal threshold, Ontario penalizes drivers in the warn range, escalating over a 10-year look-back:^[6]

Ignition interlock and the Reduced Suspension stream

After a conviction, Ontario typically requires an ignition interlock device, an in-car breathalyzer that prevents the engine from starting if it detects alcohol. Importantly, Ontario also runs a Reduced Suspension with Ignition Interlock program that can meaningfully shorten your licence suspension for eligible first- and second-time alcohol-impaired convictions, but only if strict deadlines are met after the charge, including entering a plea within a defined window. Assessing your eligibility for this stream is one of the very first things we do, because acting quickly can get you legally driving again far sooner than the standard suspension would allow.^[6]

Programs, fees, and insurance

A conviction also means completing Ontario's mandatory "Back on Track" remedial program (delivered through CAMH) before reinstatement, paying a $281 licence reinstatement fee, and facing significantly higher auto-insurance premiums.^[6][7] Many standard insurers will decline to renew after an impaired conviction, pushing drivers into the high-risk market for years. The exact premium impact varies by insurer, but it is routinely one of the largest real-world costs of a conviction.

First offence vs. repeat offence: why the stakes jump

The Criminal Code deliberately escalates the consequences for repeat offenders. A first conviction requires a fine; a second conviction requires a minimum 30 days in jail; a third or subsequent conviction requires a minimum 120 days. Driving prohibitions lengthen too, from 1 to 3 years, to 2 to 10 years, to three years or more.^[5] Ontario's administrative penalties and interlock requirements escalate on the same repeat basis. If you have a prior record, the analysis changes significantly, and early strategic advice becomes even more important, the difference between a first and a second finding of guilt can be the difference between a fine and a jail sentence, so how a current charge is characterized and resolved carries long-term weight.

Is it worth fighting a DUI in Ontario?

You can't answer that honestly until you have seen the disclosure. But you also can't wait forever, because Ontario's shortest route back to driving after a first conviction runs on a 90-day clock. Here is how the trade-off works.

What an early guilty plea buys, and what it doesn't

Ontario's Reduced Suspension with Ignition Interlock Conduct Review Program covers alcohol-impaired driving convictions and has three streams:

• Stream A, first offence. You plead guilty and are convicted, sentenced and prohibited from driving within 90 days of the offence date. The suspension can drop to a minimum of 3 months, followed by at least 9 months with an ignition interlock. You then have 3 months from sentencing to complete the remedial program assessment and sign an interlock lease.
• Stream B, first offence, no early plea. If you don't meet all of Stream A's requirements, including after a conviction at trial, you may still qualify: a minimum 6-month suspension, then at least 12 months with an interlock.
• Stream D, second offence. The same 90-day plea rule, a minimum 9-month suspension and at least 18 months with an interlock, instead of the standard 3-year suspension.

Without the program, a first conviction brings a licence suspension of at least a year, followed by a mandatory interlock period. The program is closed to drug-impaired cases and to cases where bodily harm or death was caused. Some things don't move whichever way you go: the 90-day roadside suspension and 7-day impound run from the roadside, and the Criminal Code's minimum fine applies to any first conviction (section 320.19). For offences on or after July 1, 2026, Ontario also adds a minimum 6-month "P" condition once the interlock comes off: no alcohol and no drugs at all when you drive (ontario.ca).

In a first-offence case, an early plea can mean roughly three fewer months off the road than Stream B. That is the honest size of the trade, and it has to be weighed against what the disclosure shows.

What a defence lawyer checks first

• The stop and the roadside demand. A screening demand under section 320.27(1) needs reasonable suspicion that you had alcohol in your body and drove within the preceding three hours, and the sample must be given immediately. Mandatory alcohol screening under section 320.27(2) needs no suspicion, but the officer must already have an approved screening device and be acting in the lawful exercise of their powers. Under the old "forthwith" wording, the Supreme Court held a 30-minute wait for a device too long.
• The breath room. Beyond the 15-minute gap and the blank and calibration checks, the results must be within 20 mg of each other before they count as conclusive proof (section 320.31(1)). The Crown must disclose the blank and calibration results, any error messages and the analyst's certificate for the alcohol standard (section 320.34). If you want more, the application has to be heard at least 30 days before trial, so it can't wait.
• The clock. If the first sample was taken more than two hours after you stopped driving and the reading was at least 20 mg, the law adds 5 mg for every 30 minutes past the two hours (section 320.31(4)). The only alcohol exception covers drinking after you stopped driving, when you had no reasonable expectation of a test and your drinking fits a reading under 80 at the time you drove (section 320.14(5)).
• Your call to a lawyer. Your right to counsel is limited at the roadside while the officer runs screening tests. After arrest, police must tell you about the right to counsel, legal aid and duty counsel, give you a reasonable chance to speak to a lawyer in private if you ask, and hold off on the breath test until you have. The breath presumption is not an urgent circumstance that excuses skipping that step. If police get it wrong, the judge decides under section 24(2) of the Charter whether to exclude the evidence; it isn't automatic (Justice Canada Charterpedia).

Whether a fight is worth it comes down to what the disclosure shows about the stop, the breath testing and your call to a lawyer; which stream you would qualify for; and what a conviction would cost you at work and with your insurer. Bring your paperwork to a free consultation and we will go through each with you. Call 647-588-3234 or use our contact page.

Beyond the courtroom: the hidden costs of a conviction

Clients are often most worried about jail and fines, but for many people the lasting damage of an impaired driving conviction is felt elsewhere:

• A permanent criminal record that appears on background checks. Employers and volunteer organizations run these checks as a matter of course, and an impaired driving conviction will show up. A lawyer can explain how long it stays on your record and when a record suspension application becomes possible.

The court case ends. The record does not, at least not on its own. Before you decide how to respond to the charge, find out what a conviction would actually mean for your job and your insurance.

Speak with an impaired driving lawyer first. Call Kazandji Law at 647-588-3234 for a free, confidential consultation. We defend impaired driving charges in Toronto, North York, Thornhill, Oakville, and across the GTA.