Ontario's "experiment with American-style" zero-tolerance school policies has been a total failure that helps gangs find new members, New Democrat Leader Howard Hampton said today as he urged the province to repeal the Safe Schools Act.

The law, introduced four years ago by the previous Conservative government, imposes automatic suspensions and expulsions for offences such as assault, drug trafficking or selling or carrying weapons or alcohol.

Students can also be immediately suspended for threatening to harm another student, vandalism, swearing and possessing or being under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

"The so-called Safe Schools Act is really a Gang Recruitment Act," Hampton told a news conference at the Ontario legislature. "It has driven youth at risk out of our schools, on to the streets and into trouble."

Hampton called the statistics "startling," noting the number of suspensions in Ontario shot up 40 per cent to 24,238 in the 2001-02 school year, the first year the law was in force.

The numbers have stayed that high ever since, even in the two years since Premier Dalton McGuinty was elected, said Hampton, who accused the governing Liberals of doing nothing to provide alternative programs for students who were suspended or expelled.

"The McGuinty government, despite all the statements of, `We feel your pain,' hasn't done a damn thing to address that issue," Hampton said.

"You don't just throw them out on the street and say, `To hell with you.' You have to work with them."

Hampton also said the majority of the students suspended or expelled were disabled or visible minorities, pointing out that schools in Toronto's troubled Jane-Finch neighbourhood had a suspension rate that ranged between 24 to 46 per cent.

Keelon Featherstone, 16, a student at Ascension of Our Lords Secondary School in Brampton, said he was suspended for 20 days on Sept. 28 after being wrongly accused of stealing a can of pop and a bag of potato chips.

The family went to court and a Superior Court judge said it was okay for Keelon to return to school, but an hour after he went back, police took the teen out of class, slapped on handcuffs, loaded him into a patrol car and took him to the station, where he was strip-searched - all without calling his parents or a lawyer.

"I feel I was a victim of the Safe Schools Act," Keelon said. ``I think it's out to stigmatize and criminalize minority youth."

In the legislature Monday, Agriculture Minister Leona Dombrowsky, who sat in for McGuinty during question period, said the government would begin public consultations on the Safe Schools Act in Toronto within the next few weeks.

Said Dirie, a parent activist from Toronto's Somali community, said suspending nearly 25,000 students a year only helps the gangs become even bigger.

"We do not need children out of school and on the streets," said Dirie. "It's not just one family, but many families in our community that face this problem, (and) all of us in Ontario should worry about this."

Martha McKinnon, executive director of the community-based group Justice for Children and Youth, said suspending students flies in the face of reforms that are aimed at keeping young people out of the justice system.

"Criminal justice has moved towards making sure only the most dangerous kids are dragged into the court system, and most other things we try to deal with in the community," McKinnon said.

"Schools are taking the opposite tack by throwing people out of their community for the most minor things."

Many of the suspensions are for offences such as swearing, she added, noting that the law leaves boards no choice but to kick students out instead of dealing with the problem within the school.

The Liberals promised a year ago to review the impact and application of the Safe Schools Act, but "nothing has happened," Hampton said.