City of Calgary cancels nudist swim event

The City of Calgary has cancelled a nudist swim at a public pool over security concerns.

Acting Director of Calgary Recreation James McLaughlin said the city conducted a thorough review and decided the volatile opinions about the event created a safety concern.

He said city facilities have hosted naturist swims for years without incident and the cancellation was not due to the nature of the activity, but solely because of security.

The Calgary Nude Recreation club had sold out tickets for a swim night on Sunday at the Southland Leisure Centre.

The club described the private, after-hours event on its Facebook page as a way of snubbing winter.

Word of the event sparked an online petition for the club to cancel the swim or to ban children from attending.

Calgary Nude Recreation released a statement regarding the cancellation of the event saying:

“The city of Calgary has cancelled all permits for all events citing OUTSIDE factors, not associated with the event itself. Safety concerns were cited in regards to participants, staff, and other users of the facility.

It is outrageous that lawful recreation can be prohibited by an incredibly vocal minority. These people must NOT be allowed to dictate public policy with threats against law abiding citizens engaged in lawful activities.

Calgary Nude Recreation recognizes that the city of Calgary is not the bad guy here. We will continue working with the city to reschedule a future event. Calgary Nude Recreation would like to make it clear that the city staff at the pool and elsewhere have been amazing to work with.

As no timeline has been issued for completion of an event, full legal action will be simultaneously taken against the city to ensure future events will happen.

Full refunds will be issued sometime in the next day.

Calgary Nude Recreation’s new mission is to establish a legal clothing optional stretch of river within reasonable distance of the city core for people to participate in legal recreation. This cancellation of all permits WILL NOT make nude activity in Calgary go away, but rather ensure that more people have access to public nude recreation.

We believe cancelling the event due to outside factors is a terrible precedent to set and we will move to a schedule another event as soon as possible.

Crackmacs, the two of you have about 3 brain cells to rub together.”

 

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