{"id":873249,"date":"2026-08-27T11:08:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T11:08:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/873249\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T11:08:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T11:08:38","slug":"calgary-nudists-back-down-from-planned-princes-island-park-protest-for-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/873249\/","title":{"rendered":"Calgary nudists back down from planned Prince&#8217;s Island Park protest \u2014 for now"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The leader of a Calgary nudist recreation group says plans for an unclothed protest at Prince&#8217;s Island Park this weekend will be put on the back burner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Calgary Nude Recreation, founded in 2017 by a naturist who goes by Jeff, was <a data-ylk=\"slk:arranging a clothing-optional protest;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/calgaryherald.com\/news\/protest-public-nudity-calgary-police-princes-island-park\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">arranging a clothing-optional protest<\/a> at the downtown-adjacent park this Sunday. However, the demonstration was contingent on whether <a data-ylk=\"slk:Calgary Police Service;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/calgaryherald.com\/tag\/calgary-police-service\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Calgary Police Service<\/a> officials would meet with the group to discuss their public safety concerns.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Those concerns, according to Jeff, relate to mounting fears among Calgary&#8217;s naturist community that officers will cite them for public nudity if they report or witness crimes \u2014 such as voyeurism, sexual harassment, or assault \u2014 at the city&#8217;s two clothing-optional beaches.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">While not technically legal, the clothing-optional beaches in Weaselhead Flats and a secluded area within Fish Creek Provincial Park are an open secret, Jeff said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Jeff previously said the group&#8217;s demonstration would go ahead if police did not respond to his request for a sit-down before Aug. 21.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;If the CPS chooses enforcement action against our legitimate protest at Prince&#8217;s Island Park, it reinforces the very problem we are protesting: that people cannot safely call the police when they are participating in lawful nude recreation without fearing they will become the subject of police attention themselves,&#8221; he said on his website. &#8220;That, in turn, reinforces why this protest is necessary.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He said CPS sent a letter to Calgary Nude Recreation earlier this week, adding police have declined to meet with the group.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The letter, snippets of which Jeff shared on the group&#8217;s website, states that anyone who participates in a naked protest within city limits would be committing a criminal offence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;They reiterated that all public nudity is criminal and they advise criminals (naked people) to call the police, thereby perpetuating the very ambiguity we have been pointing at,&#8221; Jeff said in a social media post. &#8220;This can only be intentional.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Calgary police&#8217;s stance contrasts with the RCMP, which Jeff noted told the group that people should report public safety issues regardless of what they are wearing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;We tried spoon-feeding this to the CPS, and they will not repeat those words,&#8221; he wrote.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Chief Constable of the Calgary Police Service, Katie McLellan said protests must be lawful.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/calgary_herald_articles_312\/702db1fbdc71a154a120590f5863ee89.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Chief Constable of the Calgary Police Service, Katie McLellan said protests must be lawful.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">CPS&#8217;s current anti-nudity stance contradicts a promise from former police chief Mark Neufeld, according to Jeff. He shared a letter Neufeld sent to Calgary Nude Recreation in 2024 that committed to developing a CPS policy to guide how officers investigate calls involving public nudity complaints.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Last week, Calgary police Chief Katie McLellan said people have the right to protest, but must do so lawfully and safely.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Calgary&#8217;s officers will police behaviours, not beliefs, McLellan added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;There&#8217;s legislation as to what people can and cannot do, and so where and when we need to enforce the law, we will,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It&#8217;s always made with discretion. There&#8217;s always context. There&#8217;s always situations that need to be looked at on an individual basis, so we&#8217;ll wait and see what happens.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;Individuals who go out and protest, whatever it is that they&#8217;re protesting, we have liaison officers, we have conversations. We tell them what the rules are, and then we&#8217;ll see what happens from there.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Jeff said he&#8217;s willing to take CPS to court over the issue, arguing that case law regarding the legitimacy of recreational nudity is on his side.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u2014With files from Noah Brennan<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a data-ylk=\"slk:sstrasser@postmedia.com;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/ca.news.yahoo.com\/mailto:sstrasser@postmedia.com\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">sstrasser@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The leader of a Calgary nudist recreation group says plans for an unclothed protest at Prince&#8217;s Island Park&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":873250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194293],"tags":[49,2798,75541,48,288051,303124,303125,303123,303126,303127],"class_list":["post-873249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-calgary","tag-ca","tag-calgary","tag-calgary-police","tag-canada","tag-cps","tag-naked-protest","tag-nude-recreation","tag-prince39s-island-park","tag-public-safety-concerns","tag-recreation-group"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}