Police intervention in Quebec for being topless in the park

Éloÿse Paquet Poisson intended to spend last Sunday like most people who were on vacation: under the sun, resting and doing an activity that she likes – in her case, it’s macrame. She chose to follow up on this desire in the Jean-Paul-L’Allier garden in the Saint-Roch borough in Quebec City with her two rats, Phili and Pouki. Except that his afternoon didn’t turn out as calm as expected.

Like her male park counterparts, the 21-year-old was shirtless. A reality that shocked a citizen who filed a complaint with the police, was able to confirm David Poitras, communications sergeant of the Quebec City Police Service (SPVQ). In response to this request, two police officers reportedly arrived at the scene. After about ten minutes of observation in the distance, one of the two came to ask her to get dressed, which Éloÿse refused to comply, fully knowing her rights.

In Quebec as in Canada, it is legal for a woman like a man not to dress the upper body in a public place such as a park, as long as it is not sexual and it is justifiable to do so. . Last Sunday, the weather therefore fully allowed to ventilate the underside of the breasts, with a temperature of 26°C.

From this point in the story, the versions differ. According to the police, a man intervened, before starting “to shout and to be aggressive towards the police”. It was at this time and in order to calm him down that reinforcements arrived. A total of four police officers were at the park.

In the version of Éloÿse that can be found online on her personal Facebook, it is rather five police officers in the context of a second intervention who would have surrounded her in order to ask her the reasons behind her refusal, to which the barista replied knowing her rights. At this answer, one of them would have been surprised and would have said: “How come you know these rules? finding it surprising that she knew about it. He would later have added that “in any case, we don’t have the right to give you a fine, it’s true. Technically, it’s legal. »

At the end of the phone, Éloÿse emphasizes the word “technically” as she tells me her story. “It’s as if he wanted to give me one. But it’s reality, it’s the law, it’s legal, ”she justifies herself. “Why was he surprised that I knew the law?” she asks.

Then it was at this moment, with video evidence in support, that a man stood up and asked the police: “Are you going to arrest me? “. This would have inflamed some passions in the park, since citizens then began to chant “The power to women! and “Fuck the police.” The police would then leave, without fining anyone.

frightened

According to David Poitras, the entire intervention with the young woman went well and everyone was “very courteous”. The feeling perceived by Éloÿse is not exactly the same, when she says that she felt intimidated by men who had nothing to reproach her for.

“Why send five men? It would have been the minimum to bring a worker, ”says the one who did not feel safe. “I really felt personally attacked on my quiet Sunday afternoon. I felt stressed, I was anxious and I was scared,” explains Éloÿse Paquet Poisson, who saw these events as a sexist attack.

The adrenaline and the desire to prove her point allowed her to stand up and not get dressed, explains the one who has been walking topless for a year now, in the park and at the swimming pool, when the heat weighs down.

And it is above all the desire to inform friends and family that prompted the graduate in bioecology to publish her story on Facebook. That, and the pride of having stood up in the face of gender injustice. There was no question of belittling the SPVQ, although certain phrases in its statute had this effect.

This one quickly went viral, with over 2,600 likes, 400 comments, and nearly 900 shares. In the comments support and love, then hate and gender violence once the status is more popular. Éloÿse Paquet Poisson, who indicated that she did not expect so many shares, mentions that she ignores hurtful comments.

“All I wanted [accomplir avec mon statut]it was to denounce the situation, inform people about their rights and open a dialogue on the subject”, explains the macramé enthusiast who hopes that her breasts will no longer be hypersexualized one day.

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