Topless parade a real bust

WINNIPEG - The parade was, shall we say, a complete bust.

A Winnipeg radio talk show host attracted only two takers to his suggestion women join him at a downtown park Wednesday and walk topless down Portage Avenue, a busy street.

Their destination was radio station CJOB, where they discussed the issue of baring breasts in public and events in Ontario that are responsible for all the furore.

Apparently, however, the two were the only ones willing to sign waivers that cleared CJOB of any legal responsibility for going topless.

Winnipeg police said it was unlikely anyone was going to be charged regardless.

"They were very courteous," said Jackie Robertson, one of the two who marched to CJOB with Larry Updike.

"They did point out that perhaps there might be some feedback in the future (but) they had no intention of charging us with anything at the time."

A number of women have gone topless recently in Ontario after the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled last year it was not indecent behavior.

Updike and the women appeared on the Peter Warren show where they took calls from some feminists who suggested their stunt was trivializing a serious issue.

But the two women said they had no regrets.

Gisela Dube, a member of a nudist colony who also walked without her top on, said all women should be able to feel comfortable walking around topless.

"It's a right of ours that we can do it too. There's big-breasted men walking around without a bra and top on. It's flesh, that's all it is."