Donich speculated that it comes down to oversight over police behaviour - and the potential for the law to be applied without safeguards against discrimination. Unlike most charges, laying a nudity charge requires the consent of the attorney general. “So, for example, at certain festivals … Pride parade’s a perfect example, you can see how on that event on that day, it’s acceptable, but if it were, for example, not in that context, it could be problematic, right?” he said. Why? Well, he said, the acceptability of nudity is all about context. If someone is charged, it would likely be in conjunction with other offences, he said. “Nude” is simply defined as “so clad as to offend against public decency or order.” In addition to the Criminal Code, some municipalities have bylaws that pertain to nudity, Toronto lawyer Jordan Donich explained.īut Canada’s nudity law is “basically never” enforced, in his experience.
GAY PRIDE WEEK HALIFAX CODE
Crucially, the Code doesn’t spell out what nudity is - whether it means exposing certain body parts or rocking your birthday suit. Indecency can be a summary offence - meaning a maximum penalty of six months in jail, a $5,000 fine or both - or an indictable offence, which carries a sentence of no more than two years.įor nudity, the Code says that everyone who “without lawful excuse” is nude in public or is even exposed to the public while on private property is guilty of a summary offence. Indecency is defined in the Code as wilfully performing “an indecent act in a public place in the presence of one or more persons, or in any place with intent to insult or offend any person.” The Criminal Code of Canada deals with indecency and nudity under Disorderly Conduct in sections 173 and 174.
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As Canadians prepare for beach season, here’s a look at the laws, the history and some of the controversy. However, plenty of questions about the legalities of public nudity, in general, remain. and Ontario supported the idea of women going bare-chested if they choose.
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Toplessness and public nudity in Canada - is it legal, according to Global News Now, Canada may not be thought of as a beach destination for some travellers right now but locals will tell you otherwise. It may not feel like it just yet, but summer is right around the corner and that means beach time can't be far behind. More and more people are discovering the freedom of baring it all, and where better to get an all-over tan than at one of Canada’s clothing-optional beaches? GALA disbanded in 1995 due to financial difficulties.Although cottagers have long known the joys of skinny dipping and (secluded) nude sunbathing, public nudity has been tucked carefully away-until recently. It also published its own newsletter (the Gaezette) and supported the successful campaign of Lesbian and Gay Rights Nova Scotia (LGRNS) to include sexual orientation in the Human Rights Act in 1991. In addition to operating Rumours and the Gayline, GAE/GALA also organized activities for Pride Week, protested anti-gay political, legal and media discrimination, networked with other gay groups across Canada, and acquired funding for projects such as a community health promotion. The bulk of the organization's revenues came from the bar at its peak, it had revenues of half a million dollars a year. In the summer of 1982 the Turret was closed and re-opened as Rumours Bar on Granville Street (moving to Gottingen Street in 1987).
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The only gay bar in Halifax for many years, the Turret became the social, political and cultural centre for Halifax's gay and lesbian communities and hosted a national conference of gay organizations in 1978. In January 1976 GAE established a social club and bar on Barrington Street called the Turret. The organization created a help line (the Gayline), which offered information, referral and peer counselling a Speaker's Bureau to educate the public about gay issues and a civil rights committee to organize educational and political activity. GAE was incorporated in 1973 and changed its name to the Gay and Lesbian Association (GALA) in 1988. The Gay and Lesbian Association of Nova Scotia (GALA) was the outgrowth or renaming of the Gay Alliance for Equality (GAE), which was a Halifax-based organization founded in the summer of 1972.