He's formally referred to as "His Excellency" -- a top diplomat in Ottawa -- but last March, police say Arnold Piggott was spotted driving erratically on Ottawa's Vanier Parkway.

Police pulled him over, suspecting he was driving impaired. Piggott is the High Commissioner for Trinidad and Tobago -- so diplomatic immunity protects him from being detained or prosecuted by Canadian authorities. Ottawa police charged him with driving impaired and refusing to provide a breath sample. Because of his diplomatic immunity, though, he hasn't been prosecuted.

It was something the Canadian government pledged would never happen again -- after an impaired Russian diplomat struck and killed Ottawa lawyer Catherine MacLean in 2001. The foreign affairs minister at the time, John Manley, vowed there would be "zero tolerance."

CTV's Whistleblower team obtained documents from Foreign Affairs which show seven people with diplomatic status, including Piggott, were stopped for suspected drunk driving in 2005.

"It's just a blessing no one's been killed or injured," says MacLean's former fiancé, John Fryer. "The only satisfactory answer that would give me any rest is if it just stopped happening."

None of last year's suspected drunk drivers face prosecution, because none of their countries agreed to waive diplomatic immunity. In Piggott's case, he did agree to voluntarily hand over his driver's license for a year, but that suspension is now up -- and he's free to drive again.

"I'm shocked," said Doug Mayhew, of the Ottawa Alliance on Impaired Driving.

"I'm shocked for many reasons, but the big one is these are people that are representing a country," Mayhew said. "They have been very successful in their careers or they wouldn't have that particular posting."

Diplomatic immunity became a contentious issue in Canada after MacLean was killed. But, even the harshest critics know Ottawa must honour the international protocol. It is part of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations -- a long-standing reciprocal arrangement between countries.

The protocol also protects Canadian diplomats from being unfairly detained or prosecuted when they are posted abroad.

Ottawa has attempted to get tough, though, by keeping track of alleged offences, and requesting diplomats to hand over their licenses for a year, if they're suspected of impaired driving. Critics are frustrated that it doesn't seem to be having much effect.

"They (some diplomats) haven't caught the flavour that this is something that just isn't tolerated in our society," said Mayhew. "It is socially unacceptable behaviour. I hold them to a higher standard."

"What else we might be able to do is beyond me," said Fryer, "I wish Cathy (MacLean) were back here. Cathy would go up one side of them and down the other."

Impaired driving isn't the only problem.

The Foreign Affairs documents show people with diplomatic status had 35 run-ins with Canadian police last year. The alleged criminal activity includes assault, domestic assaults, public intoxication, theft and shoplifting. There were three times as many police incidents last year as in 2002, the year after MacLean was killed - the first full year Ottawa started keeping the statistics.

CTV was unable to get the names of the diplomats accused of those crimes, because even when they are charged, it is the policy of Foreign Affairs to withhold diplomat's names for privacy reasons. We obtained Piggott's name and the charges against him through other sources. 

Critics say that should change, because if they were named, the embarrassment would be a deterrent.

"I think it should be part of the public record," said Mayhew, "If I'm charged (for example) it's part of the public record."

"Diplomats are human beings," said Carlos Carrasco, Bolivia's Ambassador to Canada and president of the Ottawa Diplomatic Association.

He doesn't condone impaired driving, but still, he believes diplomats are being unfairly singled out. "What is also not acceptable is the overzealousness of certain members of society and certain members of the police."

Carrasco says Ottawa residents watch diplomats "like hawks" and some police officers pull them over too often. "Sometimes they (police) are tolerant with Canadians who have the white (licence) plates versus diplomats who have the red plates."

Carrasco is currently working on a handbook that will be handed out to all diplomats when they first arrive, spelling out Canadian laws and customs. However, he wishes Foreign Affairs would stop compiling the statistics on police incidents involving his peers.

"There are no statistics on how many lawyers have been caught impaired driving, or how many journalists," he said, "Why go to the pain of singling out how many diplomats were drinking and driving at the same time?"

MacLean's former fiancé isn't impressed with that attitude.

"My glib response is to have him walk a few yards in our moccasins and let him experience what it feels like (to lose someone to impaired driving) but frankly I wouldn't wish that on my worse enemy. The damage one of these incidents can do is frankly immeasurable."

CTV's Whistleblower team tried several times to ask Peter MacKay, the new foreign affairs minister, about this -- but his aides said he wouldn't be available for comment.

Send us your tips, stories and ideas to CTV Whistleblower:

Email address: whistleblower@ctv.ca
Phone number: 416-313-2494

Mailing address:
Whistleblower
c/o CTV News Toronto Bureau
444 Front Street W.
Toronto, Ont. M5V 2S9