Every Winnipeg driver pulled over during checkstop program must give breath sample: police

Every driver pulled over in Winnipeg as part of the police’s annual festive season checkstop program will have to provide a breath sample.

The changes to the program were announced by Manitoba RCMP and the Winnipeg Police Service (WPS) at a news conference at the service’s headquarters Tuesday.

According to the police forces, the program will run throughout December, targeting impaired drivers and promoting road safety.

“We want to remind everybody—if you drink or use cannabis, please plan ahead for a ride home. You can avoid criminal charges and most importantly, will save lives,” said Const. Dani McKinnon with the Winnipeg Police Service.

Impaired driving remains a leading criminal cause of death in Canada, police say.

According to Manitoba RCMP, there have been 70 people killed on roadways in its jurisdictions so far this year, and they don’t want to see that number rise any higher.

The Winnipeg Police Service's checkstop vehicle is pictured on Dec. 3, 2024 outside the service's headquarters on Smith Street. (Jamie Dowsett/CTV News Winnipeg)

To crack down on the issue, police will ramp up impaired driving enforcement this month. New this year- every driver stopped in Winnipeg as part of the program will be required to give a breath sample using a device that detects the presence of alcohol.

According to the WPS, mandatory alcohol screening became law in 2018.

“The idea is to provide officers with an easier way to obtain breath samples because as we’ve discovered, sometimes a person who is impaired becomes quite clever and is difficult to detect,” explained Stephane Fontaine, the service’s impaired driving countermeasures coordinator.

“By allowing us to test every driver, we ensure that we catch everyone who is trying to evade and ultimately drive while impaired.”

He notes the devices do not detect cannabis use. Other drug screening devices are available to officers, as well.

Manitoba RCMP already do mandatory breathalyzer tests.

Inspector Mike Gagliardi, the officer in charge of Manitoba RCMP traffic services, said given the Mounties’ sprawling jurisdiction in the province, the focus is on a significant number of small checkstops.

“Probably smaller than you see in the city here. It’s a lot of time just a few officers for an hour or two, but we’ll be doing those across the province throughout the whole holiday season,” he said.

Police’s use of mandatory breath tests not in line with original legislation’s nature: lawyer

Winnipeg criminal defense lawyer Saul Simmonds said these mandatory breath samples fly in the face of the nature of the 2018 legislation and the Supreme Court’s dictum.

He said the legislation dictates a person must provide a breath sample to an approved screening device (ASD) only after being stopped under criteria involving suspicion of the consumption of alcohol.

“Parliament's intention of giving the police the ability to stop people and to give everyone an ASD screening device was not supposed to be an ongoing established primary requirement of every stop,” he said.

“The fact of the matter is that we are therefore in a position in which we are all subject to indiscriminate searches and technically seizures, which is ultimately what they're doing. The number of stops are not mandated.”

- With files from CTV's Danton Unger and Jamie Dowsett