Pubdate: Wed, 18 Feb 2015
Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU)
Copyright: 2015 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.montrealgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/274
Author: Geoffrey Vendeville
Page: A7

STRIP SEARCHES OF STUDENTS OK: BOLDUC

Quebec Education Minister Yves Bolduc said it's OK to strip search 
students suspected of concealing drugs as long as it's done 
respectfully and by the book.

"It is permitted to do strip searches, on one condition: it must be 
very respectful, " he said at the National Assembly on Tuesday.

"There are reasons for which we can be obliged to conduct searches," 
he continued. "What's important is that we respect the law and 
respect the framework that was put in place ( for searching students) 
and respect the person."

Bolduc was defending staff at the Neufchatel High School in Quebec 
City, who reportedly strip-searched a 15-year-old student last 
Thursday on the suspicion that she had offered to sell marijuana to her friend.

The Coalition Avenir Quebec's point person on education, 
Jean-Francois Roberge, called for Bolduc's resignation.

"It was completely, completely wrong to say that it's OK to force a 
teenage to get nude just because the principal thinks that maybe she 
has some drugs on her," he said. "And I would have thought that the 
minister would stop this and say it's wrong. But no, no, he said it's 
good and there's no problem with this."

News of the strip search broke in the Journal de Quebec last week. 
The student told the newspaper that her locker had been searched 
regularly at school for drugs. By her account, she had jokingly sent 
a text message to a friend on Feb. 12 offering to sell him "pot." A 
teacher confiscated her cellphone, and the message was passed on to 
the school principal. After questioning, the student was escorted to 
a room and asked to take off her clothes behind a blanket.

She was quoted as saying that the search left her feeling 
"intimidated," "violated," "destroyed" and "ashamed."

In a communique, the Commission scolaire de la Capitale said the 
search was "exceptional," but that it was carried out according to 
"established norms."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom