September 02, 1998
By Martin O'Hanlon
REGINA (CP) _ A woman who won a legal battle over the right to go topless in
public vows to continue her crusade after being charged again. ``I feel that I'm
not guilty, without question,'' Evangeline Godron said after a brief court appearance
Wednesday.
``I keep expecting it to be thrown out of court and it hasn't happened.'' Godron,
who had her case put over until Sept. 18, was charged with assault and mischief
Aug. 21 for refusing to leave a city pool where she was swimming topless.
She didn't strike anyone, but police can charge someone with assault if they
refuse to leave a property when asked. The 64-year-old great-grandmother said she
was simply exercising her newly won legal right to go topless.
Last month, a Regina judge acquitted Godron and Kathleen Rice of creating an
indecent exhibition by baring their breasts in public. Judge Eugene Lewchuk said
the women didn't violate community standards when they sunbathed topless in a downtown
Regina park on a hot afternoon last summer.
Lewchuk accepted a 1996 ruling by the Ontario Court of Appeal that affirmed the
right of women in that province to doff their tops. However, the judge warned the
acquittal didn't mean women could bare their breasts in all circumstances.
Anyone who offends community standards, for example by acting in an erotic manner
or going topless in the presence of children, could still be charged, he said. Godron
said she has returned to the pool since the latest incident but didn't bare her
breasts.
``They told me that they were prepared to violate the Constitution by calling
in the police if I should take it off,'' she said. ``I kept it on.'' However, she's
not sure if she'll continue to obey the rules.
``I haven't made up my mind on that one.'' The topless debate became a national
issue in 1991 when Gwen Jacob was convicted of committing an indecent act for walking
down a street bare-breasted in Guelph, Ont.
Jacob appealed the judgment and in 1996, Ontario's appeal court overturned the
conviction.