On Canada Day in 2008, Victoria police officers boarded buses and randomly searched passengers, seizing unopened bottles of alcohol. (Submitted by Zelda Sun)

Police in Victoria are bracing for another Canada Day party that, in recent years, has been marred by rampant drinking and rowdiness, turning the national holiday into the busiest day of the year for law enforcement.

Up to 50,000 people are expected to crowd into Victoria's Inner Harbour area Wednesday to take part in Canada Day festivities, which culminate at 10:30 p.m. PT with a fireworks show.

"Swearing, urinating, people passing out, vomiting — a lot of families are thinking, 'I don't want to bring my kids down there'," said Sgt. Grant Hamilton.

In an effort to make this year's event more friendly to families, more than 200 police, some wearing new body-mounted video cameras, will be conducting liquor searches and B.C. Transit is banning alcohol — even in unopened containers — from its buses.

"Last year, they had a tremendous amount of damage: assaults — a couple years you have stabbings on the bus." Hamilton said. "You have a responsibility, yes, to civil rights, but there's also that general public safety concern.

Hamilton recalled one recent Canada Day when Victoria's four-lane main street, Douglas Street, was down to a single lane while crowds of intoxicated people tossed bottles at each other over top of police cruisers.

"That's when we revised our entire operational plan," he said. "We decided at that time if we were going to continue this event, we needed to take some steps with regards to some early liquor interdiction."

Citing the Liquor Control and Licensing Act, police last year started searching people suspected of possessing alcohol, in many cases seizing the booze. Last year, police jailed 60 people on Canada Day, Hamilton said. In 2007, police jailed 82 people, with 16 arrested on criminal charges ranging from assault to mischief.

Rights complaint

The ban on alcohol on buses sparked a complaint last year by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, which said the searches were not legal.

"The spectacle of transit employees patting down bus riders and pawing through their purses, bags and satchels is disturbing," association president Rob Holmes said in a statement.

"People are entitled to respect for their persons and effects. The police and B.C. Transit are showing scorn for the law and for the civil liberties of all persons, most particularly those who choose public transit on a public holiday."

The Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP conducted a public interest investigation based on the complaint and found the practice unlawful.

Nevertheless, police said they would again be searching people suspected of carrying alcohol, and B.C. Transit is refusing to allow people carrying alcohol onto buses.

Bus drivers will not be searching people, but they will be asking police officers to remove intoxicated passengers or people carrying alcohol from buses, said spokeswoman Joanna Morton.

Residents divided about holiday rules

The strict measures are welcome news to people like Randy Cunningham.

"If this is what they have to do to have a safe party downtown, then that's what they gotta do," the new father said.

However, the rules rile other residents, including Shauna Eiriksson.

"I don't drive, so if I'm gonna go to [a friend's] house. I want to pick up a six-pack to have some beer in the backyard," Eiriksson said. "I can't do that, because I can't take it on the bus. I think that's absurd."

Some, including Kris Constable, even fear it could lead to drunk driving.

"If you're saying, 'Don't take public transit,' what other options are you giving people who live out in the rural communities?" Constable said.

Victoria is one of the few cities in Canada that still stages a major night-time Canada Day party, and families and the elderly attend by the thousands. But if the rowdiness persists, police said, the city-sponsored festivities could be cancelled in the future.

With files from The Canadian Press