SUPREME COURT DECISION 'DISAPPOINTING'

Drug-Sniffing Dogs In High Schools - From The Hill

Today I would like to share with you my concern about the April 25,
2008 Supreme Court ruling regarding the use of drug sniffing dogs. To
be honest, I am very disappointed with this ruling. The Supreme Court
ruled that it was unconstitutional for school administrators to invite
police to do spot checks for drugs in our schools. The court ruled
random searches by drug sniffing dogs violated Section 8 of the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Section 8 reads, "Everyone
has the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure."

While I agree with that statement, I am still astonished by this
decision. I believe that society wants to keep drugs out of our
schools. It seems to me that keeping our schools free of illegal drugs
is a very reasonable reason for search and seizure.

Furthermore, it is my understanding these searches are done by the
dogs sniffing the students' lockers while they are sitting in their
classrooms. I am under the belief that this system allows for the
discovery of illegal drugs without the risk of unwarranted public
embarrassment. Backpacks were not emptied in front of the student body
and teachers did not rifle through personal belongings. The actual
searching is done by an "impartial" animal that calls attention only
to illegal drugs and ignores old lunch containers, dirty gym clothes
and the hundreds of other things that can be found in a high school
students' locker. I fear that this decision takes a tool away from our
administrators to make our schools a safer place. I fear that this
decision will embolden youth who threaten our communities and be an
invitation to drug dealing adults, who take advantage of young drug
users, to take up shop in our schools. But most of all, I fear that
this decision will have wide spread repercussions that will discourage
our school administrators from taking action against students that
they suspect may have drugs, alcohol or weapons for that matter. The
decision appears to outweigh the rights of those breaking the law
against the abilities of those whom we ask, every day, to keep our
children safe.

I am certainly not calling for a drug sniffing dog for every school.
However, I would have liked to think that individual schools could use
this tool if they felt it would help them if and when they suspect
illegal activity was taking place. We should be working to keep drugs
out of schools, not limiting the abilities of our police to do their
job.

The precedence this decision seems to set, suggests that no person may
be stopped or searched without reason or without a warrant. Does this
decision mean that RIDE checks or seatbelt blitzes are
unconstitutional and without "just cause"? You be the judge. Does this
decision not call into question the issues of search, seizure and
privacy with these programs in the same way that it does with our schools?

For quite some time now there appears to have been a disconnect
between society's will to get tougher on crime and our judiciary's
direction in their decisions. Our police have to deal with this
frustrating dilemma all the time. Far too often police take criminals
off our streets only to see them returned with a pat on the head from
our judicial system. All you have to do is look to what happened
recently with the large grow-op in Georgian Bluffs and the large
crystal-meth lab in the Stokes Bay area.

Too often the hard work of our police officers is undermined by a
judicial system that puts all of the rights in the hands of criminals.
Too often the topic of criminal proceedings turns into a search for
wrong doing by police officers instead of the offences of the accused.
This ruling in our nation's highest court is no different. The hard
work of school administrators and police who worked together to make
our schools safer was tarnished by this ruling.

As your Member of Parliament I feel that it is important to share my
thoughts with you on these issues. As always, if this Supreme Court
ruling or another topic has caught your attention I hope that you will
share your thoughts with me by contacting my offices in either Owen
Sound or Ottawa.