Crown prosecutors in northern Alberta are trying to make legal history, pursuing a dangerous offender designation for a chronic drunk driver who killed a mother and her three daughters in a crash last year.

The hearing for Raymond Charles Yellowknee, 35, began Tuesday in Slave Lake, Alta., 257 kilometres north of Edmonton. The Wabasca man could face life in prison if a judge rules he is a dangerous offender.

In January 2006, Yellowknee was drunk and driving a stolen truck near Slave Lake. The RCMP tried to pull the vehicle over, but it sped up, swerved across the highway and smashed head-on into a car holding Misty Chalifoux, 28, and her three daughters Michelle, 13, Trista, 9, and Larissa, 6.

'It's part of taking the crime of impaired driving seriously, like other crimes.' —Andrew Murie, Mothers Against Drunk Driving

A white cross, surrounded by teddy bears and flowers, still marks the crash site.

Yellowknee, who had several previous convictions for drunk driving, pleaded guilty to four counts of dangerous driving causing death in November.

The Crown argues Yellowknee's driving record justifies applying for dangerous offender status in a test case being watched closely by legal scholars and anti-drunk driving groups.

"It's part of taking the crime of impaired driving seriously, like other crimes," said Andrew Murie of Mothers Against Drunk Driving which supports the Crown's application.

As of July 2006, there were 351 people labelled as dangerous offenders. About 22 people are added to the list every year.

Client has no pattern of hurting people: defence

A profile by the Correctional Service of Canada shows the majority of them committed sex offences.

Yellowknee's lawyer says he has no pattern of setting out to deliberately hurt people, as required by the dangerous offender legislation.

"My client has never injured anyone except himself in the past. So this would be the first time that he's been involved in a collision that has killed or caused harm to others," said Laurie Wood.
  
Yellowknee's dangerous offender hearing is scheduled to last three weeks.