UPSKIRT PEEP VIDEOS MAKE TORONTO NEWS – TWO YEARS LATER

TORONTO, June 14, 2002 (LSN.ca) – Hidden camera videos that spy up the skirts of young Toronto women and school girls are being sold on the Internet. Yet despite a complaint from the Catholic Civil Rights League two years ago, and a front page Toronto Sun story today, police have still not started an investigation.  The voyeuristic videos in question are filmed in public places and offered for sale by Toronto-based Canamvideo. Some up-the-skirt images show “upskirt” views of girls in Catholic school kilts walking in the Eaton Centre. Reports did not mention that lax discipline and lack of proper supervision have long allowed girls to hitch up their skirts and wear inappropriate underwear—effectively rendering themselves targets for such voyeurism on and off school grounds.  Det.-Sgt. Paul Gillespie, of the Toronto Police sex crimes unit, says police are limited by outdated laws. “Surreptitious, obviously,” he says. “Is it immoral? Absolutely. Is it wrong? Absolutely. Is it illegal?—that being the $64,000 question.” said Gillespie.  The company’s owner, Eugene Francois, calls the complaints “silly.” He says: “Basically, from my understanding, anything shot in public is legal… If you look at the tape, most of these girls want to be watched.”  Noting that the Internet also features paid models dressed in school uniforms, the CCRL’s Phil Horgan said, “We hope that the law in Canada recognizes the objectification of real Catholic schoolgirls.” But he did not mention the role of Catholic schools’ widespread failure to teach students about modesty and the danger of self-objectification, along with poor enforcement of dress-codes.  To read the Toronto Sun story see: https://www.canoe.ca/CNEWS/upskirts1_jun13-sun.html   To read Catholic Civil Rights League coverage see: www.ccrl.ca/action.html