Ontario water park firm on topless ban despite rights complaint

The owner of two popular water parks in Ontario and Quebec says women will not be allowed to go topless on the premises, despite a human rights complaint.

Groupe Calypso Valcartier issued a statement Wednesday saying women must continue to wear swimsuitscovering their breasts and the lower partof their bodies.

• Cornwall, Ont., reviewing topless policy complain
• Human rights complaint targets policy on female toplessness in pools

The decision follows a human rights complaint filed in Ontarioin Februarytargeting Ottawa-area Calypso water park, the City of Cornwall, Ont., and seven Ontariohotels for theirpoliciesagainst toplessness attheirpools.

The issue for us is to protect the comfort of our customers.- Louis Massicotte, GroupeCalypso Valcartier

"We work on an experience for our customers, and we think that toplessness should not be involved in this experience," saidLouis Massicotte, CEO of Groupe Calypso Valcartier.

"We are an amusement park for kids and families and we want to stay with that mission."

Ever since the complaint became public, Massicottesaid calls and emails inquiring about the water park's policy on toplessness have come flooding in.

The decision to makethe topless ban official was made after consulting clients and legal advisers in both Quebec and Ontario, Massicotte told The Canadian Press.

"To us, it's not a question of sexual perception, the issue for us is to protect the comfort of our customers," he added.

InDecember 1996, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that a woman's topless stroll down a street inGuelph, Ont., was not obscene, making it legal for all women in Ontario to bare their breasts in public.