MONTREAL—Quebec’s education minister is under fire for defending high school officials who strip-searched a 15-year-old female student they suspected of selling drugs — an incident that has shocked some but appears to be well within the bounds of Canadian law.

Yves Bolduc said the province’s schools have guidelines setting out how and when education officials can bypass police and order students to submit their clothing to a rigorous search.

“It’s a question of security. These interventions have to be conducted carefully and respect certain particular conditions,” Bolduc told the Quebec legislature in response to a report in the Journal de Montreal on Tuesday. “And even if it’s not mentioned in the guidelines, it has to be done very respectfully.”

The young girl and her incredulous mother told the newspaper that school official have been carrying out searches at regular intervals based on a belief that she was selling drugs to other students. But the situation boiled over last week after the girl said she sent a text message to a friend joking about selling him marijuana.

The phone was confiscated, the girl was questioned and her locker was searched in vain. But it didn’t end there. The search then moved into a closed-off room where the girl was ordered to remove her clothing. Her request to call her mother was reportedly refused by school officials.

The newspaper reported that one female staff member held a cover in front of the girl while the school principal searched through her clothing, including her underwear — all of which would seem to accord with provincial policies set out for schools, according to the education minister.

The girl’s mother said the actions of school officials were “excessive” and is considering legal action.

The school board said in a statement on Tuesday that the case highlighted in the newspaper report was “exceptional” but that the school followed the rules. Still, the Commission Scolaire de la Capitale, which covers the Quebec City area, said it would be conducting a review of the event to see if any rules changes were warranted.

In the Quebec legislature, opposition politicians said they were dismayed that school staff would not have explicit instructions from their superiors to first call in law enforcement in cases where a serious breach of regulations or a potential crime is suspected.

“I have a little girl and I’m asking myself if, when I send her to school, she’ll be strip searched ‘respectfully,’ ” said Jean-François Roberge, who represents the provincial riding of Chambly for the Coalition Avenir Québec.

Bolduc rejected the criticism. He said politicians have a duty to stand behind teachers and school principals who are trying to keep the province’s schools safe for students.

“The questions about whether we should use the guidelines or call the police each time we suspect a particular situation, I think these interventions have to be done respectfully,” he said.

A 2010 guide for teachers that was produced by the Sûreté du Québec, the provincial police force, noted that the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled school officials have the right to search students if they have “a reasonable motive to believe that a rule of the establishment has been violated and that the evidence of that violation may be discovered at a location or on a student.”

It says, however, that any such while considering the nature of the alleged rules that have been breached.

“The age and sex of the student must notably be considered,” the document reads.

That 1998 Supreme Court case involved a high school vice-principal in Nova Scotia who was searching for drugs on one of his students. In this case, the staff member found a baggy of marijuana and gave it as evidence to a police officer who filed charges against the student.

The country’s top court ruled that while school staff may not have direct authority under the law to carry out a search and seizure against students, they do have “statutory responsibility for maintaining proper order and discipline, attending to the health and comfort of students and supervising and administering the educational program of the school.”

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Still, the judges laid out a number of conditions dictating whether the search of a student could be considered reasonable. Among those was the age and gender of the student.

“Every search should be conducted in as sensitive a manner as possible and take into account the age and sex of the student. It should not be forgotten that the manner in which students are treated in these situations will determine their respect for the rights of others in the future.”

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