Male youth released unconditionally after arrest for trespassing, Ottawa police say
The arrest of a teenager by Ottawa police during a dress code enforcement protest at an Orléans high school on Friday has drawn some criticism online, but both police and the school board say responding officers handled the situation appropriately. The youth had been asked repeatedly to stay off school property and off the road in front of École secondaire catholique Béatrice-Desloges, police said. He was released without charges or tickets. Somerset ward Coun. and mayoral candidate Catherine McKenney posted on social media Friday that after the Freedom Convoy protests initially resulted in “no action,” the police response to the youth’s actions was “astounding.”
“A youth wants to cross a street … to join a peaceful protest against sexist practices [and] gets taken away by police. There is so much wrong here and it’s not the kids. They are alright,” McKenney wrote on Twitter on Sunday. About 350 students took part Friday in the protest off school property, just across the street from École secondaire catholique Béatrice-Desloges on Provence Avenue, near Innes and Trim roads.
They were protesting a dress code enforcement blitz at the school the previous day, when mainly girls were pulled out of class to see whether their clothing conformed to the rules. While most of the students stayed on the sidewalk across from the school, “some were on the street,” according to Jason Dupuis, a superintendent of education at the French Catholic school board Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est (CECCE).
School administrators decided to call police “to help slow down the traffic and make sure that the students stayed on the sidewalk,” Dupuis told CBC Radio’s Ottawa Morning on Monday. Source:cbc.ca
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
