CAMBRIDGE (CP) -- Two women were charged with trespassing yesterday after swimming
topless at a city pool.
Waterloo regional police charged the two women after they ignored requests
from pool staff for them to cover up and refused to leave the building.
Police issued trespassing tickets to the women for failing to leave the premises
when directed.
Fatima Pereira Henson, 35, of Cambridge, and Jeanette Tossqunail, 21, of
Kitchener were charged.
Pereira Henson was charged under similar circumstances in February but that
trespassing charge was tossed out of court on a technicality. That charge also stemmed
from Pereira Henson's objection to a city rule that requires women to cover their
breasts in city pools.
Cambridge city council affirmed the tops-on policy April 1, despite arguments
the rule was unconstitutional because it treated men differently than women.
Signs are now posted at city pools telling females older than age five that
they must wear proper attire that covers their breasts.
In December 1996, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled Gwen Jacobs' topless
stroll down a street in Guelph was not obscene and therefore was legal.
Meanwhile, nudity has become an issue in the Montreal area town of Oka, more
famous for its 1990 native crisis.
The town is in a tizzy because some residents are going topless and bottomless
and engaging in sex on a nearby beach.
Oka Mayor Yvon Patry said he has been flooded with complaints. Police say
they are investigating.