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A Trial Judge’s Reading Blog

DRIVING PROHIBITIONS-MULTIPLE OFFENCES-IMPOSITION OF PERIODS OF IMPRISONMENT

R. v. Arsenault, 2022 NSSC 325, November 15, 2022, at paragraph 48:

…(1) the driving prohibition is calculated as part of the sentence for the designated offence, or offences, to which it relates; but (2) where the accused is sentenced to a cumulative term of imprisonment exceeding that for the specific designated offences, the prohibition only begins to run when the offender is actually released. In my view, to have a driving prohibition commence running while the offender is imprisoned could not have been Parliament’s intention. As the court said in Kalejaiye, “the loss of the privilege to drive is of no consequence while a person is incarcerated.” Several sentencing decisions at the trial level (discussed above) illustrate the point, by specifying that the driving prohibition commences upon release from prison at the end of a cumulative sentence that includes consecutive terms on charges that are not subject to the driving prohibition.