May 20, 1998

REGINA (CP) _ If bare breasts are an acceptable standard in Ontario, they should be acceptable in Regina as well, said a lawyer defending one of two women charged with going topless in a local park. In acquitting Gwen Jacobs of committing an indecent act, the Ontario Court of Appeal set a national standard, lawyer Mark Brayford told a provincial court judge Wednesday.

Brayford's client, Kathleen Rice, 42, and another woman, Evangeline Godron, 64, were charged after taking their shirts off in Victoria Park in downtown Regina on a hot afternoon last August. About an hour after the two doffed their tops, police received a complaint. When they arrived _ after another hour _ the women were asked to put their shirts back on. They refused, and were charged with creating an indecent exhibition in a public place.

Brayford referred to the prominent case of Gwen Jacobs, a Guelph, Ont., woman who strolled down a street topless in July 1991. When Jacobs challenged a lower court conviction, the Ontario appeal court ruled in a highly publicized 1996 case that it's OK for woman to go topless in that province.

``What is good for downtown Guelph is good for downtown Regina,'' Brayford argued. ``There can't be a different set of standards from community to community.'' Furthermore, he said, Canada's level of tolerance is changing, as shown by the increasing amount of nudity on television.

Crown prosecutor Rhonda Tibbitt disputed Brayford's claim of a common, national standard. ``The decision has to be made as far as what's happening here in Regina.'' she said.

Tibbitt said there were children playing in the park at the time and disputed the defence's argument that some men were also shirtless in the park. ``The fact men were topless in the park is not relevant. The chest of a man is not considered sexual in the way same way a woman's chest is in contemporary society,'' she said.

Godron's lawyer, James Rybchuk, told the court that citizens know the difference between nudity and lewd behaviour. ``There are essentially two ways of looking at a woman who is topless,'' said Rybchuk.

``One is sexual and one is non-sexual. We have the ability not to look at a woman and her breasts as solely sexual,'' Rybchuk said. Godron's actions were consistent with her cultural background, which includes black and aboriginal roots, Rybchuk added. The great-grandmother has lived amongst indigenous people in several countries, many of which regularly go topless in warm weather, he said.

No witnesses testified. Judge Eugene Lewchuk reserved his decision until July 8.

Outside the courthouse, Godron said she wanted to challenge the legal treatment of topless women. ``The law segregates women based on gender. Like Martin Luther King, I'm opposed to segregation.''