Enough signatures have been collected by Canadian nudists to certify a petition protesting a federal ban on public nakedness, says Blacklock's Reporter..“Clothing and the process of washing it is known to cause significant water pollution,” petitioners wrote the Commons..A Criminal Code ban on public nudity is also “unduly anglo-centric for a nation composed of citizens of many ethnic origins,” the petition added..With a Thursday deadline a total 1,753 citizens signed the petition, more than triple the minimum 500 needed to certify it as fit for tabling in the Commons. Cabinet must answer all tabled petitions within 45 days..Section 174.1 of the Criminal Code bans nudity “in a public place” even on private property under threat of a $5,000 fine. The Supreme Court of Canada in 1987 upheld a ban on nudity in barrooms under New Brunswick’s Liquor Control Act..However convictions for public nakedness are rare..Alberta provincial court in 1976 acquitted a Calgary woman charged for dancing naked at the Grey Cup. The Court ruled exposure was commonplace “in this permissive society.”.The National Capital Commission in 1985 temporarily suspended prosecutions of nudists at the federal Gatineau Park outside Ottawa..The nudists’ petition was sponsored by Green MP Elizabeth May (Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.) as a constituency matter, she said.
