The Supreme Court of Canada, in a 5-4 majority, ruled on Friday that judges do not have the discretion to impose a driving prohibition order when an offender is convicted of criminal negligence causing death or bodily harm under section 220 or 221 of the Criminal Code.

Writing for the majority, Justice Martin contended that criminal negligence causing death or bodily harm is not an offense enumerated under the driving prohibition provisions. The court noted that the 2018 reform on driving-related offenses particularly removed criminal negligence causing bodily harm or death, evidencing a legislative intention to establish a simplified and efficient driving offense scheme. Accordingly, the majority held that driving prohibition orders are not available to judicial discretion if an offender is convicted of criminal negligence causing death or bodily harm.

Writing for the dissent, Justice Moreau described this interpretation as “produc[ing] an absurd consequence.” Justice Moreau said the majority’s approach rules out the possibility of imposing driving prohibition orders against offenders convicted of criminal negligence, the more serious principal offense when the regime applies the less included offenses in the enumerated list. She claimed this result contradicts the legislative objective to reduce the significant number of deaths and injuries caused by impaired driving.

The offender in the case, Braydon Wolfe, drove on the wrong side of a divided highway, killing two people and seriously injuring another. He was later convicted of two counts of criminal negligence causing death and one count of criminal negligence causing bodily harm. Following his conviction, the trial judge imposed concurrent 10-year driving prohibitions for each count of criminal negligence causing death and another seven-year driving prohibition for criminal negligence causing bodily harm. Wolfe challenged the legality of the prohibitions on the ground that it is not an offense enumerated in the driving prohibition regime.

The case concerned Section 320.24 of the Criminal Code. Under the provision, a court can make a driving prohibition order in addition to the punishment imposed if the offender is found guilty of the following six offenses:

• dangerous operation;
• operation while impaired causing bodily harm or death;
• failure or refusal to comply with demand resulting in bodily harm or death;
• failure to stop after accident;
• flight from a  peace officer; or
• operation while prohibited.

Canada reported 1,931 motor vehicle fatalities and 118,853 injuries in 2022, 6.0 and 9.5 percent more than in 2021 respectively.