Searches before Toronto police board meetings infringe on rights:court
TORONTO — An Ontario court has ruled that Toronto’s police chief has no right to demand members of the public undergo a search when attending meetings of the force’s board.
Justice Jill Copeland of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice said requiring a search ahead of the meetings, which are held at police headquarters, infringes on freedom of expression by limiting access to gatherings that are open to the public.
In a decision released Monday, Copeland rejected the police chief’s arguments that the searches are necessary given today’s “changing security landscape.”
“I accept that limiting political expression was not the chief of police’s purpose. However the effect of the searches is to limit expression by making public access to TPSB meetings contingent on submitting to a warrantless search,” Copeland wrote.