Strip searches and the right to counsel

Sinclair meets Golden: where police decide to strip search a detainee, they must afford them an additional opportunity to consult counsel. In R v Thompson, 2025 ONCA 500, Pomerance JA held that the time has come to recognize that failure to permit reconsultation with counsel before a strip search infringes s. 10(b) of the Charter:

This is significant because in Canada, detainees generally only get one opportunity to consult counsel at the outset of the detention or arrest. The right to re-consultation is narrow and generally limited to changes in jeopardy or procedure. In this decision, Pomerance JA has added a new re-consultation trigger: being strip searched incident to arrest.

This decision also includes a detailed review of the case law on strip searches. Pomerance JA affirms that although they are not prohibited, they are inherently humiliating and "degrading no matter the circumstances". See para 56 for a helpful summary of important strip search principles.

I am most intrigued by the observations at para 71: "[k]nowing that a lawyer has been consulted, police might be more inclined to follow proper procedures". I am hopeful that triggering a counsel call will reduce the reliance on this extremely invasive and often unnecessary form of search.