Topless sunbather in northern B.C. files complaint against RCMP after being warned of criminal charges
CBC
A Prince George, B.C., woman who sunbathes topless in her backyard has filed a formal complaint against the RCMP after she says an officer knocked on her door and told her she could face criminal charges for going bare-breasted.
Lynn Blatta's experience brings to light a grey area in Canadian law, which contains language around nudity on both public and private property but also leans on provincial court judgments that have found nothing legally wrong with women going topless or nude in public.
Blatta says she has been going topless in her yard since April, taking advantage of warm weather by reclining in her pool.
In the same month, she says she started walking around topless in her yard, which has a fence that ranges from about four feet to six feet in height. Her house is in a residential area and is next to an elementary school.
Blatta says she heard nothing in the way of complaints in April or May. But, on the morning of June 26, she says an RCMP officer paid her a visit.
"I had the RCMP pop over here and knock on my door and tell me that I could be charged criminally for sunbathing topless," Blatta told CBC News.
"It was wrong, and I argued with the police officer at my door … He was telling me I can be pressed with criminal charges, and I'm like, 'I know that's not true.'"
Blatta says the officer kept pressing the issue, pointing out that Blatta's property borders on school grounds.
"I let it go, and I let him leave, and then the next day I tried to bring it up with the detachment but I was not allowed to speak to the officer in charge or the staff sergeant," she said.
Blatta says she ended up filing a formal complaint against the RCMP.
Cpl. Jennifer Cooper, media relations officer with the Prince George RCMP, said in an email to CBC News that "as there is an open public complaint investigation in relation to this matter, it would be inappropriate for Prince George RCMP to comment further on the subject."
The Criminal Code of Canada says it is illegal to be nude in a public place "without lawful excuse," and also a crime to be nude and exposed to public view while on private property — with nudity being defined as "clad as to offend against public decency or order." That stipulation means a person doesn't have to be completely naked to be charged.
But there is precedent for women being legally allowed to expose their breasts in public. According to the website Criminal Code Help, in 1996, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled a lower court erred in finding a woman guilty of committing an indecent act after she walked on a city street and sat on her porch with her breasts exposed.
"No one who was offended was forced to continue looking at her," the website says in reporting the judgment. "Her conduct did not constitute an indecent act."
A nurse in Winnipeg says Canada's immigration system is undercutting efforts to address a shortage of health-care workers, after his application for permanent residency was rejected based on a technicality.
This year's provincial budget is "essentially" the status quo for wildfire preparation and response, the finance minister says.
Parts of B.C.'s coast continues to see heavy rain as Environment and Climate Change Canada warns of a prolonged atmospheric river this week.
Alberta teachers say they face increasingly dangerous conditions at school, with the most common threat coming from their own students.
Cataract surgeries at Charlottetown’s outpatient clinic are expected to resume in April, after procedures scheduled for March were cancelled due to the clinic reaching its annual funding target earlier than expected.
Shannon Elgazzar can see planes taking off from Cairo International Airport from her balcony.
Yellowknife city council has voted in favour of signing an agreement with the federal government that's aimed at bringing piped water and sewer service to the city's airport.
While Canada's economy is far more reliant on exports to the U.S. than vice versa, Canadian negotiators have crucial ammunition in their efforts to land a trade deal that reduces or eliminates tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Nova Scotia PC MLA Rick Burns says he and his wife are victims of blackmail after hackers accessed and shared videos and intimate images on his personal devices this week.
The Saint John Board of Police Commissioners and Chief Robert Bruce have lost a bid to permanently deny public access to all court documents related to conduct complaints nine officers filed against the chief.
With the looming October election, Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard has delivered a modest budget as the province aims to withstand ongoing trade disruptions and mounting geopolitical pressure.
A student in Rivers, Man., says he is stunned the small community was the site of a high-profile arrest after police say a teenage boy was planning simultaneous school attacks with another youth in Nova Scotia.
Saskatchewan expects to run deficits until the end of the decade, according to the 2026-27 provincial budget tabled by Finance Minister Jim Reiter on Wednesday.