“Naturist” challenges law banning public nudity - after he allegedly drove nude to an A&W fast-food outlet -
A breezy trip to the local drive-through has become a test of Canada’s 80-year-old law that makes it a crime to be naked in public.
Brian Coldin is charged in connection with a series of incidents dating back to 2008 and 2009, including one in which he allegedly drove nude to an A&W fast-food outlet near his rural Ontario hometown and reached into a non-existent back pocket for his wallet.
That incident and a similar encounter at a Tim Hortons coffee shop left staff “upset, embarrassed, shocked, shaken and uncomfortable," according to prosecutors.
Yes, but were they harmed? And was the impact of Coldin’s nakedness on members of the public more important than his freedom to express his “naturist” beliefs? Those are key among the questions raised by Coldin’s defense team, which includes Clayton Ruby, one of Canada’s foremost criminal and constitutional litigators.
Ruby and his team argue that section 174 of the Criminal Code banning public displays of nudity is an “historical oddity” that should be struck down in its entirety.
The law originates from a unique moment in Canadian history. It was adopted by Parliament in 1932, not as a response to the sexual mores of the time but as a direct attempt to control the strange and often violent antics of a religious sect known as the Sons of Freedom.
A radical offshoot of the Doukobours — Russian Christians who emigrated to western Canada to escape tsarist persecution — the Sons of Freedom objected to government regulation and, in particular, compulsory education for their children.
In protest, entire communities would parade in the nude, events often accompanied by acts of arson and violent confrontations with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
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