Apartment manager works topless

The Canadian Press

OTTAWA - The first woman to bare her breasts in public after a ruling made it legal in Ontario appeared overwhelmed by her notoriety. "I didn't want men staring, I didn't want men taking pictures of my boobs," Karen Lalonde said Friday, after she performed her duties as manager of an apartment dressed only in a skirt and high heels.

Lalonde, 30, had heard the news that Ontario's top court overruled the conviction of Gwen Jacobs, making it legal for women to bare their breasts in public. She thought she would give it a try. But there was a lot of commotion when she let a newspaper publish pictures of her vacuuming and collecting rent from tenants while topless.

"It's legal now. Society has made it legal so society has to be ready for it. Women are going to go topless.

"It's been terrible. So many delivery guys came over today and a carpet guy came too. They claimed they made a mistake and came to the wrong address, but they really just wanted to see my tits."

Reaction from her friends and family has been mixed. Her husband, who is 22 years her senior, doesn't mind. He's from Europe, explained Lalonde.

Her parents and sister don't agree with it.

But Lalonde is unrepentant.

"God gave me these babies, so I'm not going to be ashamed of them."