Province facing scrutiny over strip search practices

Ministry lacks data on use of system critics call traumatic

- JENNIFER PAGLIARO

Shakir Rahim, the criminal justice program director at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, said there is "limited data publicly available" on youth detention, but it is vitally important that information about strip searches is publicly known.

The Ontario government cannot say how many children are being strip-searched in detention facilities across the province.

Despite calls from the legal community and human rights advocates for the province to stop routine in-custody strip searches of children as young as 12 years old — including those who have yet to face trial and are presumed innocent — government policies allow for the practice.

It’s an issue that’s been thrust back into the spotlight, thanks to the high-profile case of eight teenage girls who were accused of swarming and killing 59-year-old Kenneth Lee.

Last week, one of the girls, who has pleaded guilty to manslaughter, testified about being subjected to routine strip searches during which she was made to be completely naked — something that is a violation of ministry policy.

At least two others who have also pleaded guilty in the swarming case plan to argue that their treatment in custody should lead to the cases against them being thrown out.

At the same time, a pending classaction lawsuit against the government is seeking to represent any young person who was detained at a provincial youth facility from April 1, 2003, onward, saying these “suspicionless” and “unnecessary” searches have caused extensive harm and breached their Charter rights.

“The Ontario government, and our society as a whole, have a heightened duty to children incarcerated by the state,” said Mohsen Seddigh, a partner at Sotos Class Actions who filed a statement of claim on behalf of a 17-year-old girl held at the same facility as the teen who testified last week.