Pubdate: Fri, 20 Feb 2015
Source: National Post (Canada)
call-the-police-not-the-principal/
Copyright: 2015 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/wEtbT4yU
Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Page: A8

CALL THE POLICE, NOT THE PRINCIPAL

No less an authority than the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that
Canadian school officials - administrators and teachers - have the
right to search the possessions, and even the persons, of students
under their care. If there are reasonable grounds to believe that a
student may be violating school rules, or, more seriously, may pose a
risk to the safety and security of a school, their lockers, bags and
clothing may be searched.

This was the defence offered by a school board in Quebec City, and by
that province's education minister, Yves Bolduc, after it emerged that
a 15-year-old girl was strip searched by two school officials. School
officials claim they believed the girl possessed marijuana; the girl
says she had merely joked with another student about having some to
sell. Both sides agree that two female school administrators took the
girl into a private room and searched her clothes, including inside
her undergarments. No drugs were found.

Again, in certain exceptional circumstances, this would be legal. It's
questionable whether a suspicion of marijuana possession rises to that
standard, but that's a matter that would need to be determined by the
courts, if necessary. What seems clear, however, is that while this
young woman's search may have been legal, it was not warranted or
appropriate. It should not have happened, and in a similar
circumstance, should not happen again.

The very same Supreme Court that defenders of the strip search have
cited offers us the reason why. In a 2001 judgment, R vs. Golden, the
court noted that "strip searches are inherently humiliating and
degrading =C2=85 regardless of the manner in which they are carried out."

Exactly right. Mr. Bolduc, earlier this week, had said that any such
searches must be respectful. How does one respectfully strip a child
on such flimsy grounds?

There are rare instances in which legitimate security and law
enforcement needs might require a suspect to be strip searched by
properly trained authorities operating under well-defined guidelines.
And if school officials have reason to believe that a student is
engaged in illegal or even dangerous activity and that a strip search
is necessary, they should notify the police. They should certainly
never, as the young woman in Quebec alleges, deny the student the
right to telephone a parent before the search occurs.

On Thursday, Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard promised there would be
no more strip searches in schools. Politically speaking, it's baffling
that it took so long, and that Mr. Bolduc managed to find himself so
disastrously offside public opinion. But better late than never. If
school officials did indeed act according to policy, then the policy
is an ass.
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MAP posted-by: Matt