Vancouver lawyer Cameron Ward.RAFAL GERSZAK/The Globe and Mail
Making the state pay for serious breaches of individual rights is, on balance, a good thing for Canadians. As taxpayers they will be out-of-pocket, as in the case of a Vancouver lawyer awarded $5,000 for a wrongful strip search, an award deemed fair last Friday by the Supreme Court of Canada. But they will have all the more reason to hold police and other government agencies accountable for respecting their rights as individuals.
Better to be out-of-pocket than nearly naked and vulnerable for no justifiable reason in a police station, as Alan Cameron Ward, a veteran lawyer, found himself on Aug. 1, 2002. He was detained and carted off to jail on suspicion that he planned to "pie" the prime minister, Jean Chrétien. It was a case of mistaken identity. The suspect was said to be 30 to 35 and wearing a T-shirt with some red in it; Mr. Ward was in his mid-40s and was wearing a T-shirt with red in it.
Anyone might have been in Mr. Ward's shoes, or T-shirt, that day. Anyone might have done as he did, and made a great deal of noise when arrested, which prompted the police to charge him with breach of the peace. And anyone might have ended up, as Mr. Ward did, in his underwear. More than likely, most people would have been completely exposed. Mr. Ward refused to take off his underwear, and police did not insist.
The police were within their rights to arrest him, even mistakenly. But why did they feel a strip search (defined as forcing a suspect to undress) was appropriate? Where was there any sign he was carrying a weapon or contraband? Was he truly dangerous? Why did a pat-down or frisk search not suffice?
The law on strip searches should have been fresh in the minds of police. It was only eight months earlier that the Supreme Court had ordered an end to the era of routine strip searches. As the court said in December, 2001, and repeated on Friday, strip searches are inherently humiliating and degrading. Even though there was no malice on the part of the Vancouver police, they should have been aware of the minimum Charter standards, the court said.
The breach of Mr. Ward's rights could not be made up for simply by giving him back his pants. The financial award sends the right message that some strip searches are unnecessary and harmful, and that individual rights deserve respect.