Judge urges delay in driving prohibition for single mother due to COVID-19 and Quebec police stopping cars from Ontario

A single mother, who lives in a rural area 20 minutes from the nearest grocery store and pharmacy, was prohibited from driving by the BC Superintendent of Motor Vehicles as a result of two distracted driving tickets she received last year. 

On an appeal to the BC Supreme Court, a judge agreed with the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles that they were not required to consider either the circumstances of the tickets or the hardship that a four-month driving prohibition would cause.

Section 93 of the Motor Vehicle Act allows the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles to prohibit anyone from driving if they conclude that their driving record is “unsatisfactory”.

A judge is only permitted to overrule a decision of the Superintendent if they conclude that the decision demonstrated palpable and overriding error, absent a legal error in terms of how the decision was arrived at.

While the judge concluded that the decision to prohibit the single mother from driving was not the result of a palpable and overriding error, she urged the Superintendent to consider delaying the start of the driving prohibition because of the COVID-19 public health emergency. The judge found that, because of the need to maintain physical distancing, the driving prohibition could remove the single mother’s ability to get groceries for herself and her children, and could potentially put her, her family, and others in the community at risk. 

While there may be no legal obligation to consider serious hardship, or medical risk, that could result from driving prohibitions, it would certainly be desirable for the government to take these things into account in light of the current circumstances. 

Also discussed is a decision by the government of Quebec to have police stop drivers entering the province from Ontario. Police checkpoints have been set up on the Quebec side of bridges from Ottawa to Gatineau and in other locations. 

Drivers who are not coming for an “essential” purpose are being denied entry into Quebec. 

This sort of provincial checkpoint may be unconstitutional. Section 6 of the Charter permits every citizen of Canada, and every person who is a permanent resident of Canada, to “move and take up residence in any province” and to “pursue the gaining of a livelihood in any province”.

While Charter rights in Canada are subject to reasonable limits, prescribed by law, that can be “demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society”, that exception is not likely to authorize the kind of checkpoints that Quebec has established. Limits must be fair, not arbitrary, carefully designed, and rationally connected to achieve an objective, proportionate, and must impair a Charter right as little as possible.

Follow this link for a transcript of the show and links to the cases and legislation discussed.