PETITIONERS SEEK ACTION TO COVER UP TOPLESSNESS

February 10, 1998

PETITIONERS SEEK ACTION TO COVER UP TOPLESSNESS

By David Gamble -- Sun Media Ottawa Bureau OTTAWA -- Thousands of Canadians are demanding a federal government coverup of women who insist on going topless in public, says a Toronto-based group.
But even the 60,000-name petition from Keep Tops On (KTO) and Independent MP John Nunziata, failed to move Justice Minister Anne McLellan on Monday.
Carol Faerone of KTO demanded to know why Ottawa is turning a blind eye to the problem, which she says threatens the moral fibre of the nation. "We'd like to make our public parks, our streets, our community safe for our children as well as our husbands and ourselves," she said. "We find it degrading to women."
NO LAW IN THE WORKS
But McLellan said there's no federal coverup law in the works and the battle should be fought at municipal councils that can choose to enact local bylaws. "There is no better standard than the local community."
Nunziata, who tabled the petition calling for a top-down solution in the Commons on Monday, agreed toplessness hasn't caught on -- but the public is concerned.
The topless law was struck down by the Ontario Court of Appeal in 1996 after Guelph resident Gwen Jacob purposely took her shirt off to challenge the law under the Constitution's Charter of Rights.