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. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt