In a case that made Canadian legal history, Ontario man convicted of impaired operation of a canoe

[megman]

OSHAWA — It was late afternoon in April 2017 when police dispatch received a report of a drunk man stumbling around on a freeway ramp in Ontario’s cottage country.

Two Ontario Provincial Police constables were close by and responded within minutes. When they arrived, they found 37-year-old David Sillars soaking wet, shoeless and shivering in the cold April weather. He could barely form sentences due to hypothermia. But he eventually managed to get an urgent message to the officers: A young boy was still in the river.

This was the start of a chain of events that would make Canadian legal history. On Thursday, in a courtroom in Oshawa, Ont., Sillars became the first Canadian to be convicted of impaired driving charges for the act of paddling a canoe.

The case is so novel that it required a special ruling last fall on whether the Criminal Code’s vague language around “vessels” means a canoe counts under impaired driving laws. Justice Peter West pored over dictionary definitions, shipping regulations and other marine laws. He also looked at the House of Commons, where in the fall of 2017 — just six months after Sillars was charged — MPs rejected a justice department proposal to clarify that paddling is not impaired driving.

https://nationalpost.com/news/in-a-case ... of-a-canoe

[kwebber]

Drunk snowshoers are the worst. All over the fucking paths!! Fricking jackwagons.

[megman]

I know, right?

[Reservoir Dog]

Canadians who own snowmobiles: "Oh, fuck!"

[JCW]

Considering you cant operate a motorized boat impaired, I'm not surprised a canoe counts if you harm the passengers.

[Wut]

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — A Franklin man was arrested and charged with operating while intoxicated on Saturday— but he wasn't behind the wheel of a car.

Officers pulled over 46-year-old Barry Ridge while he was driving down County Road 100 North on a red lawn mower, according to the Johnson County Sheriff's department.

The Franklin Police Department received a complaint just after 5 p.m. from someone upset that Ridge had driven onto their yard and started mowing the grass. Ridge then headed down the road toward Franklin.

Officers said Ridge's eyes appeared "glassy." He failed a breathalyzer test, which found his blood-alcohol level of 0.189.

[Homebrew]

[megman]

Thats right, I forgot Canada actually exists.

Americans with diabetes haven't.

https://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/ ... U0T4-OCATP

[kwebber]

Thats right, I forgot Canada actually exists.

You lie like a sidewalk!! You love Vancouver, and it's in Canada!! Find the old pictures from your trip to Vancouver back in the day. The picture of the sign that said "Vancouver is a nuclear weapons free zone" was a good one. Sadly those signs don't exist anymore. Everyone in Vancouver has a nuclear weapon now, because they took the signs down.