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Old August 25th, 2004, 07:27 PM
iRONKNiGHT's Avatar
iRONKNiGHT iRONKNiGHT is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montreal
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Quote:
Originally Posted by coonlover
I really don't know why they did, maybe to show other countries how "free" we are. I wasn't to impressed with it myself, dont really see a reason for it.
no Offence Coonlover... but you really dont know
We're really going off topic here but still makes for good reading

On July 19, 1991, in Guelph, Ontario, a young woman took off her top and walked, topless, along the streets of the city. Eventually, she arrived at a residence where she sat on the porch for a period of time. She was seen by approximately 250 people. Some, young men, came to leer; others to object. Some removed their children, who were playing on their front lawns. Traffic was disrupted by cars and buses slowing down to look. Eventually, the police arrived, as a result of complaints, and the woman stated that she was hot and was more comfortable without her top on. She was charged with committing an indecent act in a public place, contrary to s.173(1) of the Criminal Code. She was convicted at trial. The conviction was upheld by the Summary Conviction Appeal Court. On further appeal to the Ontario Court of Appeal, the conviction was overturned and an acquittal entered. See footnote 1 1


The Crown in Ontario reviewed the case and decided not to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada. It was concluded that there was no likelihood that leave would be granted by the Supreme Court. The public reaction was strong and quite vocal. Hundreds of letters and telephone calls from throughout the province of Ontario came pouring in to the Attorney General of Ontario protesting the Ontario Court of Appeal decision and requesting that some steps be taken to prevent public toplessness by women. Throughout the summer of 1997, many Ontario municipal councils considered and debated the issue of toplessness by women occurring in their municipality and what, if any, action was to be taken about it. Many of them wrote to the Attorney General of Ontario asking for the provincial government to take some action. The Attorney General wrote to the federal Minister of Justice, as did many members of the public from Ontario, asking for changes to the criminal law.


The problem was placed on the table for discussion at the 1997 meeting of the Criminal Law Section of the Uniform Law Conference. After a lengthy discussion, it was decided that further work needed to be done before any specific recommendations could be made. The following resolution was passed:


That a working group of the Criminal Section of the Uniform Law Conference be established to examine the indecency and public nudity provisions of the Criminal Code as well as the legal and constitutional issues related to the feasibility of local (i.e. municipal) regulations and to report back at the next Conference.

This paper reviews the state of the law relating to indecency and nudity, and the question whether local regulations may be feasible to deal with problems of dress in public places.

Canadian Criminal Code
INDECENCY PROVISIONS IN THE CRIMINAL CODE

The current relevant sections of the Criminal Code are sections 173 and 174. They state as follows:

SECTION 173

(1) Every one who wilfully does an indecent act
(a) in a public place in the presence of one or more persons, or
(b) in any place, with intent thereby to insult or offend any person,
is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

(2) Every person who, in any place, for a sexual purpose, exposes his or her genital organs to a person who is under the age of fourteen years is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

SECTION 174

(1) Every one who, without lawful excuse,
(a) is nude in a public place, or
(b) is nude and exposed to public view while on private property, whether or not the property is his own,
is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

(2) For purposes of this section, a person is nude who is so clad as to offend against public decency or order.

(3) No proceedings shall be commenced under this section without the consent of the Attorney General.

Other offences in the Criminal Code that contain the concept of indecency are:

Section 163(2)(b) [publicly exhibiting an indecent show]
Section 167 [indecent theatrical performance]
Section 168 [mailing indecent matter]
Section 175(1)(b) [causing disturbance by indecent exhibition]
Section 197 [definition of common bawdy house includes a place resorted to for the practice of acts of indecency].

The development of the law relating to indecency involves all of the above sections. The criteria used by the courts to determine indecency are applicable to any section where the concept of indecency is involved.

Extended information
http://www.law.ualberta.ca/alri/ulc/criminal/enude.htm
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