Happy Nude Year!

We hope you had a nice holiday season, and best wishes for a happy 2019!

Membership Renewals

February 1, 2019 marks the one-year anniversary of Calgary Nude Recreation in its current form. This means our earliest memberships are coming up for renewal. Rates remain unchanged for 2019, so $10 will renew your membership for another year and allow you to continue to access event details and registration. Memberships can be renewed by logging into your member profile at calgarynuderecreation.ca

A sincere thank you to everyone for supporting us from the start!

New Year, New Guest Options

We had a blast in 2018, and we’re looking forward to making things even better this year. One of the changes is to enable members to bring friends/partners/etc who may be interested in CNR, but aren’t yet ready to buy a membership.

After a successful trial at Volleyball, members are now allowed to pre-register and pay for guests at Wave Pool events.

• Guests are required to adhere to the dress code of the event
• Members remain accountable for the conduct of their guests
• Guests must present current government-issued Photo ID at check-in, matching the pre-registration.
• Guests must check-in with the member who registered them

Dress Code Updates

Calgary Nude Recreation was founded with a vision of normalizing human bodies and providing access to body-positive events for the widest audience possible. One of the methods we will be using in 2019 is that certain events will be designated “clothing-optional” instead of “nude-mandatory”. CNR's very first swim in November 2017, the beach day in June, camping in September, and Beach Volleyball in November were all successful clothing-optional events.

With no expectation of personal nudity, clothing-optional events allow people the opportunity to see our values in action with their own eyes. We encourage anyone who appreciates our values to join us. While some people prefer all-nude events for their first plunge, we also recognize that others prefer to remain in full control of their bodies and process our values at their own pace.

It is incredibly important to us that all attendees feel fully welcome, regardless of how much they choose to wear.  Please note that it is not appropriate to comment on the amount of clothing worn (or not worn) by any member, guest, or staff member at any event.

The first clothing-optional event of 2019 will be at the wave pool in February. We hope that you (and your friends) can join us! Registration will open approximately 30 days before the event.

Closure on the naked hike aspirations

Earlier this year, we shared that we had applied to access Crown Land, surrounded by a grazing lease, for a naked hike. Our desire to access this site stemmed from the fact that because it can only be accessed via a grazing lease, we had a reasonable expectation of privacy and no risk of being seen by “the public”.

Unfortunately, under Alberta Government regulations dating back to the mid-2000s leaseholders are permitted to deny access whenever livestock is present. This decision was upheld in appeal, but if anyone has their snowshoes we’ve been told we are welcome in the winter when the cattle aren’t present.

We will continue to advocate for lawful access to outdoor recreation opportunities whenever we can.

New Event - Naked Beach Volleyball

We are thrilled to have secured access to a new space on a new night! Naked Beach Volleyball + Activities takes place in less than three weeks on Saturday November 24. First - we want to emphasize the “+ Activities” part of the event description. You do not need to play volleyball to attend. We also have naked beach frisbee, naked beach dodgeball, naked beach sandcastles, and naked socializing.

Since this is a new space, we are excited to have the opportunity to try some suggestions from our members:

1. Guests are allowed at this event, if registered by an existing member. (The same ID requirements as members will apply).
   
2. Attendees are welcomed to wear whatever they are comfortable with. We know there are thousands of people who really want to try one of our events, but aren’t ready to commit to being immediately naked. This event is a chance to see what social nudity is all about and how liberating it really is!
   

Note that due to venue capacity, there is a hard cap of 100 attendees for this event. Please consider registering ASAP if you would like to attend.

Missed out on the October swim?

The last naked swim of 2018 will occur on Sunday November 17. Our October swim sold out, but there is a way to avoid that situation! If we are close to capacity at least a week before the event, we can hire more lifeguards to allow more attendees. Please consider registering sooner rather than later if you are planning to attend.

Event Ideas?

We have to admit we’re both excited (a little bit jealous) that our friends to the north recently announced nude indoor mini-golf and a nude virtual reality (VR) night. They’re even trying to break the Guinness Book of World Records for nude mini-golf!

If you have any suggestions for events you’d like to see in Calgary (or have a connection with a local business), please let us know!

-The CNR Team

In doing research for our upcoming legal challenge in support of Naturism in Canada, we came across something quite amazing from the United Kingdom. Earlier this year, British Naturism, working with the College of Policing, had the Policing Manual updated to include new direction on public nudity and the clear conclusion that non-sexual nudity is lawful. From the preamble (emphasis added):

In the lawful situation where there is an absence of any sexual context in relation to nudity and where the person does not intend the behaviour to be, and is not aware that it may be disorderly, it will not be appropriate to take any police action.

The British Naturism legal team has written a detailed blog post on how they were able to achieve this. We at CNR love the approach as it worked respectfully and constructively with key stakeholders to align on a new interpretation of the law, that was then communicated nationally and in a consistent manner.

Check out the resulting UK College of Policing briefing note (and handy flow charts) here.

Calgary Nude Recreation was established in the belief that contextually-appropriate social nudity can be a powerful tool for individuals to gain confidence, free themselves from body-shame, and allow a new connection with the self and others. We strive to create spaces where nudity is normalized, empowering, and beneficial to our community.

What we are trying to accomplish

Event permits denied

Our applications for outdoor events in secluded locations have been denied on the grounds that nudity is always illegal under the Criminal Code of Canada.  We do not agree with that interpretation.  The law allows plenty of wiggle room for Wreck Beach, Hanlan’s Point Beach, Crystal Crescent Beach, World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR) events in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, and countless other examples.  Enjoying the forest in the most natural state should be on that list.

Is nudity illegal?

Back in January, you may recall that one of our local events was cancelled due to threats of violence. A legal fund was subsequently established, and then placed on hold when approval was secured to move forward. Since then, we have successfully (and peacefully) held over 6 indoor events and our membership has continued to grow.

We have also been pressing on one of our original intentions, which is holding outdoor activities for our members in a controlled/respectful/appropriate setting. We have been attempting to work with a number of official agencies/departments to secure approval to do this in an “above board” way. Unfortunately, we feel that all current avenues have now been exhausted. In consultation with law firms specializing in constitutional law, we feel it is necessary to explore this angle.

Accordingly, we have re-opened the legal fund. Funds raised will be used for a retainer fee including a legal opinion on the best course of action to meet CNR's objectives. While obviously very early in the journey, our ultimate objective is to see willing Canadians allowed to practice naturism without the threat of criminal prosecution. As this is now a larger situation with the potential for national impact, we are encouraging all Canadians to consider donating.  You can read more on the GoFundMe page.

In the mean time, we aren't giving up! We are excited to be lining up more indoor activities for the fall – watch for details on the members-only events page.

It's summertime and everyone is probably wondering where the outside activities are. We are trying very hard to ensure our events are completely above-board and legal. Unfortunately, that complicates things A LOT. I’ll certainly accept some blame myself for the delay, as there is a really steep learning curve to this.

While we haven't had any specific rejections due to nudity, we have encountered an abundance of bureaucracy.  Nude or not, it appears that getting permission for a large group of people to assemble on crown land involves a number of hoops.

We have quite a few irons in the fire, and it looks like a few of them will pan out eventually. We have been in contact with the RCMP, along with other government agencies. Most people have been really helpful and understanding of our heightened needs as a nude group in order to comply with the law. In addition to working to find a suitable location for naked hikes, we continue to keep eyes out for potential locations for a permanent beach.

Given the publicity we received in January, along with our long term goals to establish a legal nude beach, we feel we are best off working with government agencies and working within the confines of their regulatory systems. While it may appear easier to have a "renegade" nude hike (as plenty of people do), but we feel this may complicate our other goals significantly.

We appreciate your patience and understanding.

Thank you for 4 months of success!

Hello everyone! Naked Jeff here. We here at CNR would like to thank everyone for their support and participation in our events. None of this would be possible without YOU showing up, getting naked, and having fun.

We have overcome many hurdles to have our events in Calgary. Your patience and understanding has been amazing. We really appreciate the feedback that many of you have sent us. YOU are a part of OUR community and we hope you consider us a part of YOUR community. 

We are super stoked that we continue to nurture our relationship with the City of Calgary, and can announce the event registration changes outlined below.

We are finally in our warm season and we will have some outdoor events soon! Many of you have been asking about nude hikes. Trust me when I say we are all just as stoked as you all for nude hikes. The sad news is it’s a bit early in the season. Its still a bit cold (especially the water) out there.

We at CNR are in this for the long term. We believe ALL people should have access to body-positive events to present their most authentic self. One of our long-term goals is a LEGAL nude beach near Calgary. Now that the snow is melted we have been making scouting expeditions for potential sites. Realistically, we see this as a goal that will take several years to complete. In the meantime, should you come across nice secluded locations, please share them with us!

Membership Rules Update

In the early days of CNR, we committed to establishing formal rules, processes, and procedures to help minimize risk and maximize the comfort and safety of all attendees.  We also committed to listening to our members and trying our best to provide a sustainable naked space to everyone who wanted to join us.  

After a number of successful events, we've made a couple of tweaks to the Membership Terms. First, we have specifically called out "following" as another action which may negatively impact the comfort and safety of other attendees. We have also adjusted Rule 3 to make it clear that members have two options if the actions of others are making them uncomfortable -- either express their feelings to the person in question, or bring it to the attention of an organizer to approach the person in question. You can review the updated rules here.

Event Registration Deadline Changes

The City requires confirmation of expected attendance in advance of the event to confirm staffing numbers. After losses caused by a series of last-minute cancellations (and refunds) to the first event, we introduced a one-week cutoff for event registration.

We heard you! Sometimes seven days is a lot of advanced notice, so we've approached the city and renegotiated our terms. Event registration and payment must now be completed by 10:00AM on the day of a swim. As we are still committing and paying the city, registration payment will remain "final sale" with no refunds available.