Ontario mandatory alcohol screening: CCLA voices concern [Video]

A spike in impaired driving-related collisions has caused Ontario’s provincial police to begin enforcing mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) at all traffic stops in the Greater Toronto Area — a move one civil rights group says is ‘not acceptable.’

Speaking with CP24 on Thursday, Shakir Rahim, director of the Criminal Justice program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), said that as the new measures do not require officer’s to have reason to request a breathalyzer test, they are unjustifiable.

“This is an unjustified power to interlude into someone’s life without any suspicion [that] they have done something wrong,” he said. “That’s not acceptable.”

Announced on Wednesday, the OPP said the implementation of MAS follows a nearly 30 per cent increase in impaired-related driving collisions in the last year, compared to the previous five-year average, with the GTA being the highest-ranked jurisdiction for these kinds of offences.

“We’ve seen impaired drivers, with you know, …