OTTAWA - Topless bathing will be allowed at outdoor pools and beaches this summer in Canada's capital, but women will have to cover their breasts at indoor pools, Ottawa city council has decreed.

"I believe as the property owners of the swimming pools we should have some ability to control the dress code,'' Ottawa Mayor Jacquelin Holzman told Reuters Thursday.

The Ottawa city council voted 6-5 Wednesday in favor of banning topless swimming at indoor pools after heated debate.

But the council refused, by a 8-3 vote, to extend the ban to include outdoor pools and beaches.

The ban prohibits females 10 years and older from swimming topless at indoor pools. Those who refuse will be asked to leave and could be charged with trespassing.

The vote rejected an earlier council committee proposal to allow topless bathing at all city facilities.

The topless debate started in 1991 when Gwen Jacobs from Guelph, a city 50 miles southwest of Toronto, removed her top one hot summer day. She was charged with indecency.

Last December, the Ontario Court of Appeal quashed Jacob's fine because it said the law was discriminatory, paving the way for Ontario women to go topless in public as long as it was not for sexual purposes.