June 19, 1997
DRESS CODE SEEN AS TOPLESS ANSWER
MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS MINISTER AL LEACH BELIEVES MUNICIPALITIES HAVE THE POWER.
By Jeff Harder
Sun Media Queen's Park Bureau
TORONTO -- Cities should impose dress codes if residents don't want topless women on street corners, Municipal Affairs Minister Al Leach says.
Leach said that dress codes, such as those used by restaurants, could apply to the topless problem.
"I don't see why they could not control it with a dress code in other areas of a municipality," he said Wednesday.
"I think municipalities should have the ability to establish codes of conduct or morality. I think municipalities probably have the power to do that now by bylaw."
A 1996 appeal court decision found that going topless is not an indecent act, unless it's done for commercial purposes.
The Conservative family values committee wants dress code powers clearly defined in the Municipal Act, said panel chairperson Jim Brown.
CHANGES SOUGHT: "We want the government to give municipalities the right to impose a dress code, particularly for public nudity," said Brown, MPP for Scarborough West.
"Then, the municipalities can decide. It is local democracy."
Brown has a dozen sponsors for a private member's bill that would add that clause to the Municipal Act. Leach said now is the time to offer amendments, as the legislation is being redrafted to accommodate province-wide restructuring programs.
Attorney General Charles Harnick confirmed that some officials are reviewing alternatives to control toplessness, but said he favors lobbying the federal government to change the Criminal Code.
"Certainly, there may be people looking into those things," Harnick said. "That is an issue I would not feel comfortable. I believe that is something that has to be regulated via changes to the Criminal Code."