By : Gabriella Rodrigues | VP of Research
Ontario’s youth custody facilities are strip-searching girls and boys as young as twelve years old, even when they have not been sentenced. The core of Canadian Criminal law assumes innocence until proven guilty: so why are innocent children being subjected to an invasion of their autonomy and privacy before even being sentenced for a crime?
Sotos Class Action is gathering information from all children in youth custody or temporary detention in Ontario from April 1, 2003, to the present date. Its partners are Toronto law firms Emily Lam Law and Ruffo Law.
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees certain rights to everyone living in Canada and provides certain constitutional rights. The class action case alleges the following constitutional rights were violated: the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure, rights to liberty and security of the person, rights to be free from arbitrary detention, and the rights to be free from cruel and unusual treatment or punishment (Seddigh et al.).
The case questions whether it was necessary to strip-search children who likely did not pose a great threat.
On September 23, the Toronto Star reported that in December 2022, a teenager waiting for her trial testified about facing regular strip searches in which she had to be completely naked when she was 13 years old. On one occasion, when a judge ordered her not to be stripped due to her testifying this fact in court, she was held in isolation for 24 hours (Pagliaro). This is a violation of The Ontario Ministry of Children, Community and Social Service’s policy, which manages children’s custody facilities in Ontario. Her claim is being included in the class action lawsuit.
A girls facility in Kingston, Ontario- Sundance- had a policy for 18 years that was only changed in January of this year, which required youth to strip completely naked (Pagliaro). The Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services has a policy which states that during strip searches, children “must not be completely undressed for any period of time” (Pagliaro).
The case claims that these strip searches are illegal and that Ontario’s prisons are breaching its duties to children which they are responsible for in custody.
Pauk Dubé, the ombudsman of Ontario, released a report in March 2024 outlining his recommendations based on the Ministry of Children, Community, and Social Service’s request. He urged the Ministry to minimize strop searches because they are particularly “traumatic” for young people (Dubé). He also reaffirmed that youth should not be naked at any point in time during strip searches.
In the Supreme Court Case, R v Golden, the court determined that strip searches are “inherently humiliating and degrading for detainees regardless of the manner in which they are carried out. (Dubé)”
Currently, there are technologies available called body scanners, which can see any objects potentially concealed on a person without removing their clothes. It is similar to the technology used in airports. They are solely used in adult prisons.
Their restricted use to adult custody centers is unacceptable considering the vulnerability of children.
A report from the Juvenile Law Centre, a non-for-profit public interest law firm, stated that strip searches performed on children can cause depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, and a phobia of being searched (Shoenberg). It also reported that in the United States, one-third of girls in the juvenile justice system reported being survivors of sexual abuse (Shoenberg). While Canadian statistics were not available at this time, the statistic proves the point that searches can retraumatize youth who are survivors of sexual abuse.
In July 2023, the RCMP launched an investigation after over 70 men reported being sexually abused in a Nova Scotia children’s correctional facility. However, a class action launched received over 200 complaints of abuse suffered at the hands of a worker at the facility (Willick). The full details are unavailable at this time.
The Edmonton Journal published an article in 2018 that Alberta prison residents made 67 allegations of sexual assault over a 5 year period but only one resulted in a criminal charge (Jellinek).
It is clear that strip searches are incredibly dangerous for all Canadians, especially young people and girls who are developing and are vulnerable in their bodies.
Works Cited
Dubé, Paul. “Submission to the Ministry regarding searches of staff, visitors and young persons at youth justice.” Ontario Ombudsman, 25 March 2024, https://www.ombudsman.on.ca/resources/reports,-cases-and-submissions/submissions-to-government/2024/submission-to-the-ministry-regarding-searches-of-staff,-visitors-and-young-persons-at-youth-justice. Accessed 1 October 2024.
Jellinek, Simona. “What Is Assault and Abuse in Correctional Facilities?” Gluckstein Lawyers, 19 September 2023, https://www.gluckstein.com/news-item/no-way-to-escape-assault-and-abuse-in-correctional-facilities. Accessed 1 October 2024.
Pagliaro, Jennifer -. “Arrested. Forced to strip naked. Humiliated. Troubling questions raised about Ontario’s practice of routinely strip searching children as young as 12 in detention facilities.” Toronto Star, 23 September 2024, https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/arrested-forced-to-strip-naked-humiliated-troubling-questions-raised-about-ontarios-practice-of-routinely-strip/article_33faad58-6642-11ef-96b6-1379bf7ef889.html. Accessed 1 October 2024.
Seddigh, Mohsen, et al. “Youth Detention Strip Searches.” Sotos Class Actions, 2024, https://www.sotosclassactions.com/cases/youth-detention-strip-searches/. Accessed 1 October 2024.
Shoenberg, Dana. “Addressing Trauma: Eliminating Strip Searches.” Juvenile Law Center, 2019, https://jlc.org/sites/default/files/publication_pdfs/AddressingTrauma-EliminatingStripSearch.pdf. Accessed 1 October 2024.
Willick, Frances. “RCMP say more than 70 teens sexually abused at N.S. youth jail over 3 decades.” CBC, 12 July 2023, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/rcmp-investigation-hotline-nova-scotia-youth-centre-1.6904219. Accessed 1 October 2024.
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