Yves Bolduc backtracks on school strip search policy

Quebec Education Minister Yves Bolduc is backtracking a day after saying strip searches of high school students are permissible.

Comments he made on the issue yesterday were met with a firestorm of criticism, prompting Bolduc to announce today that he will re-examinethe policy on allowing high school staff to carry out strip searches.

"We want to protect students who go to school, because that's what parents and society ask us to do," Bolduc said Wednesday.

"But at the same time,we have to protect the rights of people when there are suspicions."

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On Tuesday, Bolductold reporters the practice was permitted as long as it's done "very respectfully."

He was reacting to newsa 15-year-old girl was stripsearched by her female high school principal and another female staff member at Neufchtel high school in Quebec City.

The school board defended the practice, saying it followed strict guidelines drafted in 2010 by the province with the help of police.

Bolducsaid Wednesday the government has asked an independent person from outside the school board to look into what happened.

Once the review is complete, Bolduc said he would decide, "based on the facts, what should be done in the future."

Petition calls for minister's resignation

Public reaction to Bolduc'soriginal remarks was swift and critical, with anonline petition calling for his resignation collectingmore than 2,000 signatures.

Educators and opposition politicians in the province were also quick to criticize Bolduc.

Suanne Stein Day,chair of Montreal's Lester B. Pearson School Board, said she would recommend calling the police to handle anysituation where a strip search may be necessary.

"This is a very sensitive and technical procedure though and really is better left to those who areexpertsat it. So if we had a concern about a student with drugs or anything like that, we would call in the police," she told CBC Montreals Daybreak.

"The police are very aware of proper procedures and the appropriate thing to do," Day said.

Schools given more leeway by courts, says lawyer

Civil rights lawyer Pearl Eliadistold CBC's Radio Noon that schools and school boards are granted unique rights by the Supreme Court of Canada when they feel the school's rules have been broken.

"The Supreme Court of Canada has said very clearly that the school boards, school districts and schools have more relaxed and flexible power to engage in searches, she said.

She said teachers and schools need to be able to react quickly to situations involving the safety of students. Often, she said, that means schools can do things that police can't, unless police obtain a warrant.

"I think one needs to recognize that schools are given a little more flex, than even the police would have in similar circumstances.

However, Eliadis said she doesn't necessarily agreewith the school board, saying she had questions about the circumstances of the search.

"We dont have all the facts, but I think there are real concerns here.