Alexi N. Wood
Associate
McCarthy Tétrault LLP.
October 28, 2008
What is the important message to take away from R. v. A.M.?
R. v. A.M. has two really important messages for students.
The first is that students don't check their privacy rights or their constitutional rights when they walk into their schools. I think that's a really important message for students. We often hear a lot about students having diminished rights. Sometimes people say they don't have any rights. Students often feel like they don't have a voice. And I think the message that students maintain their constitutional rights, in particular their Section 8 rights, when they are in a school is a really important message for students.
The second message is a more subtle message and it's a recognition that students are people. The court in this case really drew significant analogies between business people in an office building and students. They said that business people would be offended by the concept of policemen and police dogs searching their purses and their briefcases. They recognized that a student's backpack was very similar to a purse or a briefcase. It was a portable bedroom and study rolled into one. So this recognition of students, of young people, as adults, as similar to adults, as maintaining their privacy rights, as maintaining their constitutional rights, I think this message is really important. Just because they're students, just because they're in a school, doesn't mean that they give up their constitutional rights and their privacy rights. I think that's a really important message to take out of the A.M. case.
