Peter Simm’s Brief to Toronto Council on Creating an Official Clothing‑Optional Zone at Hanlan’s Point Beach

In 1998, Peter A. Simm conceived the idea of officially designating a clothing-optional zone at Hanlan’s Point Beach on Toronto Island. He then researched and wrote a detailed brief to Toronto City Council successfully advocating the zone’s creation. He unearthed a remarkable fact absent from any published history: from 1894 to 1930, Toronto had three official clothing-optional beaches. His brief — “Enhance Toronto Tourism & Recreation: Restore Clothing-Optional Status to Hanlan’s Point Beach” — was substantiated by 188 endnotes.

The April 19, 1999 staff report by Joe Halstead, the City’s Commissioner of Economic Development, Culture & Tourism, adopted Simm’s brief in its entirety and even reproduced it as an appendix. An article on the front page of the Toronto Star (Apr. 23, 1999) quoted the Commissioner praising Simm’s brief as “well researched and presented in a cogent and thoughtful manner”.