Teh One Who Knocks
08-26-2011, 10:46 PM
By DON PEAT, QMI Agency
http://i.imgur.com/uR0Ef.jpg
TORONTO - Members of a group spawned by the Raelian Movement are blowing their tops over the city's refusal to grant them a permit for a topless event in an east-end park.
The Canadian chapter of U.S.-based GoTopless.org wanted a permit to hold National Go Topless Day at Ashbridges Bay park on Sunday - an event in which women would publicly bare their breasts. A similar event was held recently in Venice Beach, Calif.
"As soon as we told them women were going to be topless they denied us a permit," said Diane Brisebois, the co-ordinator of the Toronto GoTopless event.
"They said I was utilizing the facility without being properly attired. We just want to be at the beach topless."
The Toronto resident stressed the event was about empowering women and accused city officials of discriminating against the group.
An Ontario appeal court ruling in the 1990s set a precedent which allows women to go topless in public.
"We can be topless on the street, but we can't be topless on the beach," Brisebois said.
The Raelian Movement, which was founded in 1974 by Rael, former French journalist Claude Vorilhon, believes life on Earth was started by space aliens. The religious sect, which started GoTopless, believes every part of the human body is beautiful.
Mark Lawson, manager of customer service for the city's parks department, said the municipal code requires members of groups using parks to be "properly attired."
Lawson said city officials repeatedly offered up Hanlan's Point - the city-sanctioned clothing-optional beach - as an alternative location for the event.
"We had no problem issuing a permit for that park location," he said.
But Brisebois said Hanlan's Point isn't a solution.
"We're not asking to be nude; we're asking to be topless and that's a big difference," she said.
Brisebois said her group will put the bare facts of their case before Mayor Rob Ford and ask him to change the municipal code or the way Toronto officials interpret it.
She said participants are now planning a topless parade on Sunday on the edge of the park.
The event is set to start at noon on Woodbine Ave. at the corner of Lake Shore Blvd. E.
http://i.imgur.com/uR0Ef.jpg
TORONTO - Members of a group spawned by the Raelian Movement are blowing their tops over the city's refusal to grant them a permit for a topless event in an east-end park.
The Canadian chapter of U.S.-based GoTopless.org wanted a permit to hold National Go Topless Day at Ashbridges Bay park on Sunday - an event in which women would publicly bare their breasts. A similar event was held recently in Venice Beach, Calif.
"As soon as we told them women were going to be topless they denied us a permit," said Diane Brisebois, the co-ordinator of the Toronto GoTopless event.
"They said I was utilizing the facility without being properly attired. We just want to be at the beach topless."
The Toronto resident stressed the event was about empowering women and accused city officials of discriminating against the group.
An Ontario appeal court ruling in the 1990s set a precedent which allows women to go topless in public.
"We can be topless on the street, but we can't be topless on the beach," Brisebois said.
The Raelian Movement, which was founded in 1974 by Rael, former French journalist Claude Vorilhon, believes life on Earth was started by space aliens. The religious sect, which started GoTopless, believes every part of the human body is beautiful.
Mark Lawson, manager of customer service for the city's parks department, said the municipal code requires members of groups using parks to be "properly attired."
Lawson said city officials repeatedly offered up Hanlan's Point - the city-sanctioned clothing-optional beach - as an alternative location for the event.
"We had no problem issuing a permit for that park location," he said.
But Brisebois said Hanlan's Point isn't a solution.
"We're not asking to be nude; we're asking to be topless and that's a big difference," she said.
Brisebois said her group will put the bare facts of their case before Mayor Rob Ford and ask him to change the municipal code or the way Toronto officials interpret it.
She said participants are now planning a topless parade on Sunday on the edge of the park.
The event is set to start at noon on Woodbine Ave. at the corner of Lake Shore Blvd. E.