Pubdate: Thu, 19 Feb 2015
Source: Nanaimo Daily News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Nanaimo Daily News
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1608
Author: Colin Perkel
Page: A12

HIGH SCHOOL SEARCH POLICY SPARKS OUTRAGE

TORONTO - Parents and civil-rights activists alike reacted with 
outrage Wednesday at word that Quebec school officials had 
strip-searched a teenaged girl suspected of having marijuana - with 
the blessing of provincial government policy.

In a day and age where educators can lose their jobs for laying a 
hand on a student, the province's Education Minister Yves Bolduc 
defended the searches as a reasonable safety measure in which 
teachers need not consult parents but aren't allowed to touch the students.

A 15-year-old girl told the Journal de Quebec last week she felt 
violated after being strip-searched at Neufchatel High School.

Abby Deshman, with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, called 
the practice "really disturbing" and likely a violation of the Constitution.

"Both the actions of the school officials as they've been reported in 
the media as well as their interpretation of their legal authority is 
concerning," Deshman said.

"Strip searches are such a highly invasive form of search, and there 
are extremely tight controls on police and correctional officials."

Becky Lozowsky, a mother of three younger children in Owen Sound, 
Ont., compared the practice to forcible confinement or sexual assault 
of a minor.

"There is nothing right about this," Lozowsky said. "That school and 
everyone involved would burn if this was anyone of my kids."

On Tuesday, Bolduc told the province's legislature that strip 
searches are fine, as long as they are done "respectfully" and 
subject to restrictions.

The Quebec search policy, in place since 2010, mandates the presence 
of two teachers - preferably of the same sex during the search. The 
student, from behind a curtain, is expected to strip and hand the 
discarded clothing - including underwear - to the teachers for 
examination, officials said.

The policy cites the legal authority of the Supreme Court of Canada, 
which ruled in 1998 that school officials have the right to search 
students' lockers or bags. However, Deshman called the comparison 
facile, saying it completely misses the mark given the level of 
violation of privacy and personal dignity involved with a strip search.

"To make a student remove all of her clothes, it just doesn't seem to 
be a rational or a logical step."

Neither the Canadian Association of Principals nor the Canadian 
School Boards Association responded to multiple attempts for comment.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom