The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) has initiated a constitutional challenge to Ontario’s law covering strip searches in provincial jails. .“Ontario’s own independent review recommended that the province’s strip search law be scrapped and replaced with constitutionally valid provisions,” said CCLA counsel Kent Elson in a Monday press release. .“Instead, Ontario has unnecessarily strip searched many thousands of people, forcing them to strip naked, bend over, squat and cough, and do other degrading things.” .The press release said the lawsuit claims the law, which gives prison superintendents almost unlimited power to strip search prisoners, is unconstitutional. .Strip searches need reasonable limits to protect people against trauma and abuse, according to the press release. The CCLA said Ontario is missing legal safeguards, which exist in other provinces and federal prisons. .The press release went on to say this lawsuit argues Ontario’s law violates the right to life, liberty, and security of the person and the right against unreasonable search and seizure guaranteed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. .Vanessa, whose last name has been redacted because of stigma associated with strip searches and incarceration, is serving as a co-plaintiff in this case. .“I have been traumatized by far too many brutal strip searches in Ontario’s provincial prisons,” said Vanessa. .“I vividly remember being stripped along with my entire unit in the yard even immediately after I suffered a miscarriage.”.Elson said he hopes this case is successful. .“The Ontario law gives prison officials carte blanche to strip search whoever they want, whenever they want, for any reason,” he said. .“The Canadian Civil Liberties Association is asking the court to strike down Ontario’s overly broad law and require the essential safeguards to prevent abuse and unnecessary trauma.” .This lawsuit comes after Toronto police published race-based data it had been gathering, which was collected from officers’ perceptions of people’s races in use-of-force incidents and strip searches in 2020. .The data revealed there were differences by race in strip search rates, with black, indigenous, and white people being over-represented. .Human rights organizations demanded Toronto police have their funding cut after the service published a report saying racialized people were over-represented in use-of-force incidents and strip searches. .CCLA criminal justice director Abby Deshman said the report “paints a deeply concerning picture of the state of policing.”.“The picture is disturbing — but it is not a surprise,” said Deshman.
