Quebec’s education minister, Yves Bolduc, told the National Assembly on Tuesday that strip-searches are allowed when the security of students is in question, and the searches are done in a respectful manner. The comments came about following a story printed in the Journal de Montréal newspaper.
Last week, according to the Journal de Montréal newspaper, a 15-year-old girl at Neufchatel High School in Quebec City was required to stand behind a blanket being held up by a female staff member, remove all her clothes, including her underpants and bra, so that staff members could search her clothing for drugs. The girl told the newspaper the school suspected her of selling drugs.
According to the news story, the young lady had been “regularly searched,” from the start of the school year. The girl told the reporters the school was suspicious of her selling drugs to other students. Last Thursday, as the girl tells it, she made a “joke” about texting a friend, asking him if he wanted some “pot.” However, a teacher confiscated the cell phone, taking it, along with the alleged text message to the director.
The girl was questioned for a long time by the director. “They absolutely wanted me to say things,” she said. Then, they searched her locker but didn’t find anything. It was after the locker search that the final search of her clothes was made. She said they wouldn’t even let her call her mother. “She (the director) asked me to take off my underwear,” she said.
The De la Capitale School Board did not dispute the girl’s version of events in a press release on Tuesday. On Tuesday, Bolduc pointed out that schools must take drug trafficking very seriously. “When we suspect drug trafficking we want to protect our youth; it’s a security issue,” he said. “These searches must follow a very strict protocol with specific conditions. And I would add, even though it’s not in the protocol, to add the human side, it must be done very respectfully.”
CTV News Montrealsays that while the courts have upheld the rights of schools to search student’s lockers, legal experts have a different view of strip-searches. “It’s a very different level of invasion of privacy if you are forced to take off your clothes, especially as a 15-year-old girl,” Toronto criminal lawyer Boris Bytensky told CTV News.
Across most of Canada, school officials have a clear policy. If school officials suspect a student has drugs, the matter is turned over to the police. Yet Bolduc says it would be inappropriate to send police into schools to conduct a strip-search. The school in this case has said they are going to review their procedures.
What do you, the reader, think about the strip-searching a student? No, the child was not touched or examined. She just had to remove her clothing, getting completely naked. Is this going to far in the school’s perception of investigating?
