USE OF FORCE IN SCHOOLS Supreme Court Clarification of Section 43

The Necessity Defence  Justifies the use of force in situations where a greater harm may occur if something is not done---protect against injury; grabbing someone who is about to fall or go into traffic, spotting in gymnastics; (also surgeon saving someone’s life);  Defence for non-teachers, day care workers, teachers’ aides etc.;

Criminal Responsibility for Excessive Force  Section 26: Criminal Code – everyone who is authorized to use force is criminally responsible for excess – better to call the police in similar circumstances

Correction of Children By Force  Section 43: Criminal Code – p Section 43 of the Criminal Code allows schoolteachers, parents or persons standing in the place of parents to use force by way of correction as long as the force does not exceed what is reasonable in the circumstances. – Applies only to parents, legal guardians and school teachers. NOT day-care workers etc.

Challenges to Section 43  Recent attempts to abolish Section 43 of the Criminal Code have failed: – Section 43 provides essential protection for teachers in exercising their responsibilities to provide a safe, positive learning environment. This Section does not confer a right to use force, nor is it a licence to hit children. It does not sanction or condone child abuse. (CTF, 2004).

Section 43: Supreme Court Clarification  Teachers can intervene, when appropriate, without fear of criminal prosecution, in situations that arise on a day-to-day basis within schools: – protecting students or teachers when fights break out at school, including restraining students if necessary; – escorting an uncooperative student to the principal’s office; – removing a disruptive student who refuses to leave the classroom or the school itself;

Supreme Court Clarification: Section 43 – placing a young student on the bus, in a situation where the students has been on a field trip and refuses to return to the bus; – restraining a cognitively impaired student; – intervening in a potentially disruptive situation to prevent escalation into something more dangerous.