By Bob Burtt Record staff
Bare-breasted women can now swim legally in City of Cambridge swimming pools.City
council killed a bylaw Tuesday night that prohibited women from swimming topless.
A new bylaw treats men and women the same.
The move won approval from Fatima Pereira Henson, who had challenged the old policies.
But council received a stiff rebuke from Erika Kubassek of the Moral Support Movement.
Pereira Henson has twice gone swimming without a top in city pools and has criticized
efforts to legislate what women wear when they swim.
She argued that the old bylaw, which required a woman to wear a top in city pools,
was discriminatory and violated Canada's Charter or Rights and Freedoms.
But Kubassek said council "was caving into foolish demands" by backing
off the more restrictive bylaw, which was passed in May.
She warned council members that they would be held responsible for the decision
they made. Their revised stand on toplessness would lead the city into a moral quagmire,
she said.
Kubassek saved some of her criticism for the legal system, which she said was morally
corrupt.
This is the second time that the city has tried to craft a bylaw governing what
people wear in city pools.
In the first attempt, the city made it illegal for women to swim topless.
But the bylaw wouldn't stand up in court, and the city was forced to back down.
The new bylaw insists that all bathers wear bathing apparel sufficient to cover
genital areas.
As drafted by city lawyers, the new bylaw would have indicated a preference that
all swimmers wear "appropriate attire" and that females be encouraged
to wear a swimsuit top.
Under that policy, people offended by another swimmer's dress or lack of dress could
have complained to a life guard. If the offending swimmer chose not to cover up
in response to the complaint, nothing more would have been done.
But this provision, said Pereira Henson, was akin to jumping from the frying pan
into the fire.
Anything in the bylaw that would encourage people to complain about topless swimmers
would incite harassment toward women, she said.
"Are you going to replace a bad bylaw with one that is worse?" she asked.
On a 7-4 vote, council agreed to eliminate any reference to appropriate apparel
and be content with a bylaw compelling swimmers to cover up genital areas.
Ken Boyle, a Hespeler area resident, told council to forget about forcing women
to cover up.
"That will only bring another court challenge and citizens of Cambridge don't
want to pay for any more challenges."
If it is illegal, some women will swim topless just to challenge the law, but if
it is legal few would choose to exercise their legal right, he said.