CHATHAM (SPECIAL) - The city wants Ottawa to squelch
women's rights to go topless, but the lawyer who won the case that legalized it
says a new cover-up law won't be constitutional.
London lawyer Margaret Buist also blasted the city and Premier Mike Harris for disapproving
of women going topless under the same circumstances that men can.
Alderman Mel Crew introduced the petition that Chatham City Council accepted unanimously
on Monday, calling on Ottawa to once more make it illegal for women to go topless
in public. He said it will be circulated to all members of federal and Ontario parliaments,
77 major Ontario municipalities and the Supreme Court.
Last year, Buist won a ruling in the Ontario Court of Appeal overturning a woman's
conviction for walking home topless from the university of Guelph one hot summer
day in 1991.
Buist based her argument on the Charter of Rights which prohibits discrimination
based on gender.