By PATRICK CARON, SUN MEDIA CALGARY -- The acquittal of two Saskatchewan
women caught going topless won't stop the province from busting women doffing their
tops here.
But at least one Calgary lawyer said she would gladly represent any woman willing
to challenge the "ridiculous" law.
Wednesday's ruling by Saskatchewan provincial court Justice Eugene Lewchuk doesn't
change a thing in Alberta, Alberta Justice spokesman Peter Tadman said.
"Women who try to go topless in public will be charged with indecent exhibition
or indecent exposure," he said.
Lewchuk ruled Kathleen Rice, 42, and Evangelene Godron, 64, didn't violate community
standards when they when they sunbathed topless in a Regina park last August. But
Lewchuk warned the acquittal came attached with a few qualifiers - anyone acting
erotically or going topless in the presence of children could still be charged.
That hardly constitutes a victory for women wanting to go topless, Tadman said.
"The Saskatchewan decision is a limited decision - the judge found these two
not guilty only under certain circumstances," he said.
Alberta's laws will be enforced without exception, Tadman said. But Calgary lawyer
Bina Border said she'd be willing to defend any woman who wants to peel off her
top and cool down in public.
"I'd take up a case like this," said Border, a lawyer with the firm Van
Harten, O'Gorman and Foster. "It seems ridiculous that a man can go topless
in a public place but a woman can't."
It's time to change not only the law making female toplessness illegal, but the
public's mindset as well, said Border, adding that won't happen overnight here.
"Considering the (political) climate, it would be an uphill fight."
But one possible edge for Border is the precedent set in 1996 when the Ontario Court
of Appeal overturned the conviction of Gwen Jacob. The Guelph, Ont., resident had
been found guilty in 1992 of committing an indecent act for taking off her top on
a hot day in July 1991.
Jacob said she couldn't understand why men could expose their chests and women couldn't.
To date, no one has challenged Alberta's indecent exposure laws.