Illegal Strip Searches in Federal Penitentiaries in Quebec
This class action seeks to indemnify every person who was strip-searched in a federal penitentiary in Quebec.
Latest news
On January 6, 2025, the Superior Court of Quebec rendered a judgment ordering a stay of proceedings.
On November 20, 2024, the plaintiff filed an Application for Stay of Proceedings on the Application for Authorization to Institute a Class Action.
This follows the March 3, 2023 decision of the Ontario Superior Court certifying a national class action in Farrell v. Attorney General of Canada between the same parties, based on the same facts, subject and advancing the same causes of action.
The definition of the certified class is:
All inmates imprisoned in a federal penitentiary on or after June 18, 1992.
All members of the proposed class in the Quebec Application for Authorization to Institute a Class Action are included in this definition. Therefore, it is in their best interest that the Quebec Application be suspended in favor of the national class action which is already certified and moving forward.
The Ontario Superior Court Certification Decision can be read here.
Resume of the case
The Corrections and Conditional Release Act (“CCRA”) limits strip searches performed without individualized suspicion to “situations in which the inmate has been in a place where there was a likelihood of access to contraband.” However, the Correctional Services of Canada (“CSC”) conducts strip searches without individualized suspicion in four situations that do not meet this requirement:
1. When leaving a prison;
2. When entering or leaving a secure area;
3. Before a family visitation; and
4. During prison-to-prison transfers.
The inmates were forced to remove all of their clothing, bend over, spread open their buttocks, manipulate their genitalia, remove soiled tampons, and/or cough while squatting in front of others. All of their bodily orifices were inspected.
Those impugned situations violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Civil Code of Quebec.
On July 2, 2024, the plaintiff filed an Application for Authorization to Institute a Class Action and to Obtain the Status of Representative. While waiting for the Ontario class action outcome, the Quebec class action was stayed.
The proposed class in the plaintiff’s application is as follows:
All persons imprisoned in a federal penitentiary in Quebec on or after June 18, 1992.
Trudel Johnston & Lespérance represents the class members in collaboration with Elson Advocacy.
Registration
You can register for this class action on the website of Proactio, the class action administrator: Federal strip search in Canada | Proactio.