Still Topless In Ontario

Even though "EI Nino" weather patterns this year have warmed up most of Ontario, it has fortunately not been warm enough to encourage women to bare their breasts this winter. With spring and summer rapidly approaching, however, no doubt we can expect a few women to expose their breasts again, to the leering enjoyment of some men, and the disgust of more rational women and men. (See "Topless in Ontario", Reality, July/August 1997, p. 5).

The topless issue in Ontario has not died down. Quite the contrary. The controversial decision in 1996 of the Ontario Court of Appeal, that women exposing their breasts in public was legal, based on their "equality" with men, and not an indecent act under the Criminal Code, was referred last summer by the federal government to the Criminal Law Section of the Uniform Law Conference. The latter organization consists of representatives from the federal and provincial governments and the legal community. The Conference will report in August, 1998 on whether legislative change is necessary or desirable on the topless issue.

Meanwhile, the public has not been idle. Carole Faraone formed a group in Toronto that collected 60,000 names on a petition against toplessness in an attempt to protect children from public indecency and to protect women from sexual assaults. The petition was tabled in Parliament in early February by Independent MP, John Nunziata, who predicted that unless the government acts, public nudity by both sexes could take place without penalty. This latter petition followed a 40,000-name petition tabled in Parliament last year as well as many other smaller petitions tabled by MPs from various regions across the country.

In spite of this, however, feminist Justice Minister, Anne McLellan, has so far chosen to ignore the demands of the public. When the 60,000-name petition was tabled in February, she quickly ruled out any action by the federal government, saying that local governments are in the best position to settle the topless controversy with regulations reflecting community standards. Ms. McLellan, as a lawyer, knows full well that public nudity and indecency are criminal offenses, which fall solely within the jurisdiction of the federal government. The only jurisdiction that local communities have to curb toplessness is to pass municipal by-laws regarding property. This is scarcely sufficient to deal with the problem. According to the Lawyer's Weekly (Feb. 27, 1998), topless women seem to be at the bottom of Ms. McLellan's legislative list.

Perhaps Ms. McLellan should learn something about democracy: it is the voting public, not the Minister, surrounded by her faceless bureaucrats, who should make decisions as to which laws are best for society.

Please write to:

Please request that S. 173 (indecency) and S. 174 (public nudity) of the Criminal Code be specifically amended to prohibit women from going topless in public.

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