Following up on suggestions from Montreal police, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue will be installing security cameras at Harpell Park in an effort to discourage drug deals and mischief.

On Monday, town council authorized spending $15,000 for the purchase of security cameras to be installed at the park adjacent to the municipal library, community centre and an outdoor pool, just south of Highway 20.

Mayor Paola Hawa said aside from the advice of police, some residents also have brought up concerns about loitering and drug transactions at Harpell Park.

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The prime minister steadfastly refuses to decriminalize cannabis. Cigarette smoking is legal, unhealthy, addictive and taxable, an important revenue for governments. Pot is illegal, unhealthy, addictive and very costly to enforce. For criminal gangs, its sale is a wonderful source of income. To decriminalize marijuana could generate taxes and eliminate the cost of law enforcement. The taxes can be used to teach young people to avoid smoking altogether.

Georges Plourde, Kirkland

[end]

In a recent interview with VICE founder Shane Smith, President Obama was asked about his thoughts on legalizing marijuana, which was one of the most popular viewer-submitted topics for the interview.

"It shouldn't be young people's biggest priority," he dictated. "I understand this is important to you, but you should be thinking about climate change, the economy, jobs, war and peace. Maybe way at the bottom you should be thinking about marijuana." But people's interest in his answer to this question isn't about their political priorities.

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Fighting possible removal from Quebec court

Montreal - Two weeks before Quebec Superior Court Justice Michel Girouard was named to the bench in 2010, a security camera recorded him buying illicit drugs in the back office of a video store, the Canadian Judicial Council alleges in a document made public Tuesday.

The information is contained in a 21-page summary of allegations against Judge Girouard, who could be removed from the bench after being caught up in a major Surete du Quebec drug sting, Operation Crayfish.

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A teen girl who was strip-searched at a Quebec City high school in a highly publicized case has lost her bid to return to the same institution.

The family's lawyer had sought an injunction, challenging the suspension and allowing her to return to the Neufchatel High School, which had suspended her last month.

Family lawyer Francois- David Bernier said Quebec Superior Court Justice Bernard Godbout rejected the request Monday.

Bernier had argued an urgent need for the 15- year-old girl to return to her old school to save her school year. The school had countered with a spot in a school for students with learning difficulties.

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MONTREAL - A teen girl who was strip-searched at a Quebec City high school in a highly publicized case has lost her bid to return to the same institution.

The family's lawyer had sought an injunction, challenging the suspension and allowing her to return to the Neufchatel High School, which had suspended her last month. Family lawyer Francois-David Bernier said Quebec Superior Court Justice Bernard Godbout rejected the request Monday.

Bernier had argued an urgent need for the 15-year-old girl to return to her old school to save her school year. The school had countered with a spot in a school for students with learning difficulties.

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Justin Trudeau's recent comments in Vancouver in support of drug injection sites are shameful.

Our Conservative government strongly disagrees with Justin Trudeau's support for opening more injection sites for illegal drugs in communities across Canada.

Dangerous and addictive drugs tear families apart, promote criminal behaviour, and destroy lives. We will continue to support treatment and recovery programs that work to get addicts off drugs and help them recover drug-free lives.

That is why as Canada's health minister, in keeping with the Supreme Court's ruling, I will make sure that communities have a say when injection sites want to open. Our Conservative government's Respect for Communities Act will give local law enforcement, municipal leaders, and local residents a voice when injection sites want to open in communities.

Canadian families expect safe and healthy communities in which to raise their children, and deserve to have a say if injection sites want to open in their neighbourhoods.

Rona Ambrose ( Minister of Health), Ottawa

[end]

Re: "Ticketing for marijuana possession on Tory radar" ( Montreal Gazette, March 4)

My problem with issuing tickets for small amounts of marijuana is that it does not address the main problem of drug pushers. We call them drug pushers for a reason. Dealers ( pushers) are criminals with very little regard for the well-being of their customers. Often, the first time a person is introduced to harder drugs, the suggestion to give it a try comes from their pusher. I want to know that my children are safe from that influence. Justin Trudeau has the right idea. Legalize it, control it and tax it. Take the power out of criminal hands.

Patty Clarke, Montreal

[end]

Quebec's Education Minister Yves Bolduc had to backtrack Wednesday on earlier comments that condoned the strip search of a 15-year-old girl in Quebec City, who was suspected of carrying marijuana.

In the province's National Assembly Wednesday he vowed to re-examine the policy allowing such searches by school staff.

"We will ask a person external to and independent of the school board to evaluate what happened, write a report, and, at that moment, we will see based on the facts what we should do in the future," Mr. Bolduc said.

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Minister vows to re-examine existing policy

MONTREAL - Joyce Shanks doesn't want to contemplate what she'd do if her child were strip-searched at school.

"I would lose it and so would my husband," said Shanks, whose daughter attends Grade 7 at a school in a Montreal suburb.

The debate over the strip search of a 15-year-old girl at a Quebec City high school on Feb. 12 forced Education Minister Yves Bolduc to backtrack on comments made Tuesday that condoned the search of the girl, who was suspected of carrying marijuana.

[continues 438 words]

Joyce Shanks doesn't want to contemplate what she'd do if her child were strip-searched at school.

"I would lose it and so would my husband," said Shanks, whose daughter attends Grade 7 at a school in a Montreal suburb.

The debate over the strip search of a 15-year-old girl at a Quebec City high school on Feb. 12 forced Education Minister Yves Bolduc to backtrack on comments made Tuesday that condoned the search of the girl, who was suspected of carrying marijuana.

[continues 413 words]

Parents, School Officials and Legal Experts Oppose Action

If I felt that it needed to go any further, certainly I would be involving the parents immediately, and I would certainly be calling upon the police as well.

Joyce Shanks doesn't want to contemplate what she'd do if her child were strip-searched at school.

"I would lose it and so would my husband," said the Dollard- des-Ormeaux mother, whose daughter attends Secondary I at Royal West Academy in Montreal West.

[continues 886 words]

Quebec Education Minister Yves Bolduc says he wants to tighten the rules surrounding the controversial practice of strip searches of students in high schools in the province.

Bolduc said Wednesday that he's ordered an independent expert to look into two such cases recently in Quebec - one in the provincial capital that has caused waves this week and another in the Beauce region.

Just one day earlier, Bolduc had said the practice was legal and therefore authorized, to the extent that it was conducted in a manner that was "very respectful" to the student.

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Policy draws criticism after 15-year-old girl forced to remove her clothing over suspicions she was dealing marijuana

Quebec's Education Minister has ordered an independent review of the province's school strip search policy after an uproar over a 15-year-old girl who was made to remove all her clothes over suspicions she was dealing marijuana.

The debate over intrusive searches in Canadian schools had gone dormant for a decade after several controversies, lawsuits and a Supreme Court case in 2001 that said strip-searching should only be done for serious reasons during lawful arrests, preferably at a police station.

[continues 581 words]

QUEBEC - On the ropes for defending the strip search of a student at a Quebec City high school, Education Minister Yves Bolduc said he will order an investigation to determine whether the school acted appropriately.

The education ministry also plans to tighten the protocol for searches in high schools, Bolduc's aide said.

"We will ask a person external to, and independent of, the school board to evaluate what happened, write a report and, at that moment, we will see based on the facts what we should do in the future," Bolduc said in the National Assembly on Wednesday.

[continues 378 words]

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.

[continues 308 words]

Joyce Shanks doesn't want to contemplate what she'd do if her child were strip-searched at school.

"I would lose it and so would my husband," said Shanks, whose daughter attends Grade 7 at a school in a Montreal suburb.

The debate over the strip search of a 15- year-old girl at a Quebec City high school on Feb. 12 forced Education Minister Yves Bolduc to backtrack on comments made Tuesday that condoned the search of the girl, who was suspected of carrying marijuana.

[continues 471 words]

But education minister defends high school principal's actions

MONTREAL - Quebec's education minister is under fire for defending high school officials who strip-searched a 15-year-old female student they suspected of selling drugs - an incident that has shocked some but appears to be well within the bounds of Canadian law.

Yves Bolduc said the province's schools have guidelines setting out how and when education officials can bypass police and order students to submit their clothing to a rigorous search.

[continues 669 words]

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."

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Youth Outreach Project Doubles Capacity With New Hire

Last November, Head & Hands hired a second employee for its Street Work program, restoring the program to the capacity it had before budget cuts forced its discontinuation in 2011. The program was partially reinstated in 2013 with the hiring of a single street worker after substantial fundraising.

Head & Hands is an organization that caters to the needs of youth between the ages of 12 to 25 in Montreal who may not have access to certain resources, ranging from counselling to legal services to free condoms to clean needles.

[continues 617 words]