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Alberta’s highest court has struck down a provincial law that allows police to suspend the driver’s licences of suspected impaired drivers.

In a majority decision filed Thursday, the Court of Appeal of Alberta ruled that suspending the licences of people who have yet to be found guilty of impaired driving violates those individuals’ Charter rights.

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The court has granted the government one year to figure out how to implement the change.

Writing the majority’s reasons for judgment, Justice Frans Slatter wrote that about 20 per cent of people who have their licence suspended are ultimately found not guilty, but nevertheless lose their licence for a “significant” period of time while awaiting trial.

Slatter also wrote that the law may encourage some drivers to plead guilty because the wait for trial is more lengthy than if they had pleaded guilty to be eligible to have an ignition interlock device installed in their vehicle, allowing them to drive again.

Drivers may be “induced to surrender their constitutional right to the presumption of innocence,” Slatter wrote.

Province to review ruling

Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley said Thursday that while pressuring innocent people to plead guilty is a “valid concern,” she hasn’t seen evidence of that happening.