'HUMILIATED' BOY HIRES TOP LAWYER TO BATTLE SCHOOL

He Was Suspended After a Police Dog Indicated There Was Marijuana on Jacket

OTTAWA - A 15-year-old boy suspended from school because a police dog
smelled marijuana on his jacket has retained Lawrence Greenspon, one of
Ottawa's top criminal lawyers, saying he won't let the school board trample
his rights.

Chris Laurin, who had no drug in his possession, wants the Ottawa-Carleton
Catholic School Board to apologize and erase the suspension, or face a lawsuit.

"Chris chose to become an advocate for youth,"said his father, Michel Laurin.

"We're looking at litigation to change rights for teens. Chris is being
humiliated in front of his peers, and he didn't do anything wrong. I'm very
proud about how Chris is handling this."

Greenspon called the incident "zero tolerance gone insane."

After the student arrived arrived at St. Matthew high school in suburban
Orleans on Tuesday, the school principal announced a "lockdown." Police
officers, at the request of the school,would search the premises for
weapons and drugs.

The boy's Grade 10 class Grade 10 class waited outside while a police
officer and drug-sniffing dog went through the classroom. They came out
holding Chris's ski jacket.

The student was questioned by the vice-principal, his jacket, bag and
locker searched.

No drugs were found but the student was suspended and sent home.

He was initially told the suspension was three days, the minimum for such
an offence, but vice-principal Dan Kennedy reduced that to two days and
said Chris would have to see a drug counsellor.

When Michel Laurin heard about the suspension,he and gave his son a choice:
Accept the decision, or fight it, and bring attention to the way teens are
treated in schools.

"I feel very good about bringing out this issue," Chris said.

"It's not fair. I didn't do anything wrong, so why was I suspended? I don't
understand how they can do this to a student who didn't do anything wrong."

After calling the human rights commission and being told his son's rights
had likely been violated, Michel Laurin decided to pursue the matter legally.

He called Greenspon.

Laurin wants the school board to apologize for suspending his son "without
reaso" and to erase the suspension from his record.

He also wants the board to re-examine the lockdown policy that he says
strips students of their rights.

If the board refuses, Laurin said he will seek compensation for the damage
done to his son.

"I look at him, and I wonder, what kind of an example is this setting for
him? What is this teaching him?" said Laurin, who has another son, Andrew, 12.

"I look at Chris, and just hope this will make his character stronger, and
he'll learn from this to stand up for what's right. You have to stand up
for your civil liberties."

Michael Baine, the superintendent of student services for the school board,
would not comment on the case specifically, but said suspensions aren't
given lightly.

"There are policies...we have to follow," he said. "The province's Safe
Schools Act, which went into effect this year, required all boards to
establish a stricter policy. It has some pretty tight restrictions. The
principal considers this, and determines an appropriate punishment.

"We have to remember, this policy is for the safety of the students. Nobody
wants drug-sniffing dogs in schools, but we don't want drugs on school
grounds."

Greenspon called that policy "nothing short of ridiculous."

"Are they seriously saying there's a school policy that says if a dog
sniffs a coat, and barks a certain way, and they find no drugs, they have
to suspend the student anyway?

Robert Solomon, a law professor at the University of Western Ontario in
London, said "Canadian courts have been willing to give educators
considerable discretion when it comes to drugs in schools."

Eugene Oscapella, an Ottawa lawyer and founder of the Canadian Foundation
for Drug Policy, said he doesn't like the message the case sends to teenagers.

"Will they grow up thinking that people who have authority over them can
run roughshod over their rights?" he asked. "Our job in a democracy is not
to make the police's job easy. And last time I checked we still had some
democracy in this country."