The Government of Canada has confirmed that impaired driving offences committed before the coming into force of tougher sentences in December 2018, will not place foreign nationals with one old DUI at risk of inadmissibility.

Given Royal Assent in June, Bill C-46 will increase the maximum sentence for impaired driving from five to 10 years once they come into force, thereby elevating offences committed as of December 18, 2018, from ordinary criminality into the category of “serious criminality.”

It has been confirmed that impaired driving offences committed prior to December 18, 2018, will be treated as criminality rather than serious criminality.

“As per the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Tran v. Canada … in assessing serious criminality, officers will take into consideration the Canadian law in place at the time of the offence,”

This is good news and guarantees that our guests from south of the border can still be granted admission as they were before as long as they have no further DUI or other felony convictions in the future.

Next steps for NOTO is to coordinate lobby efforts with the Canadian Federation of Outfitter Associations to continue to press Government to reduce processing times for Granted Rehabilitation applications for those guests who need to complete this process.