June 25, 1997

HANDS OFF POLICY

HARRIS ON NUDITY:

By JAMES WALLACE
Queen's Park Bureau Bare breasts are a federal problem, Premier Mike Harris said yesterday.
Harris wants Ottawa to take the topless issue off his hands by amending the Criminal Code to make it illegal for women to strip down away from the beach.
"Now that the election's over and summer's here, I think they are going to have to do something," he said.
Ontario's appeal court ruled in 1996 that women who go topless in public are not committing an indecent act.
Ottawa "may want to assess what takes place across Canada throughout the summer" before changing the law, he said.
But many people clearly have concerns over the situation, he said. Provincial officials are reviewing alternatives to control toplessness, including using municipal bylaws to create topless zones.
A group of women descended upon Queen's Park yesterday to demand Harris ban "toplessness of women in public."
Spokesman Erika Kubassek said female nudity is a moral issue, not an equality issue.
"I'm 53, I've lived quite a while and I've heard men talk. I have a husband and I'm pretty sure breasts are a sexual organ."