Dogging in Canada

Plenty of Canadians have never heard the word “dogging” – and plenty of them are doing it anyway. Ask in an Edmonton group and you’ll find people discovering that what they always called being an exhibitionist has a British name. From parking lots on the edge of Toronto to a riverside lot in Alberta, Canadians who like being watched have their own scene, their own words for it and a much shorter summer to fit it into.

What is dogging called in Canada?

“Dogging” is catching on – Alberta even has its own online dogging group – but most Canadians still describe it in other ways. People talk about car fun, public play or outdoor fun, or simply call themselves an exhibitionist couple who enjoys an audience. One Edmonton member summed it up: it’s the same thing, just with someone watching. Swingers call their wider world the lifestyle, and many outdoor-curious couples start there.

In Quebec the vocabulary is French. Swingers are libertins or échangistes, and couples who want to play in the same room as others without swapping call it côte-à-côtisme – side by side. If you’re searching in Quebec, those are the words that find people.

One thing to know: some well-known parks and trails in Canadian cities are long-standing gay cruising areas. They have their own history and regulars, and they aren’t the same as a dogging spot.

Where is dogging most popular in Canada?

Canada’s scene is spread thinly across a huge country, with most of the activity around the big cities.

Toronto and Ontario

The Greater Toronto Area is the busiest region, with large swingers’ groups and a steady flow of people looking for car fun and outdoor meets. Toronto couples have even started organizing casual get-togethers – munches – because, as one couple put it, it’s so hard to meet real people online through all the fakes, flakes and time-wasters. Ottawa has a smaller scene; one local looking to start a regular dogging night pointed out how many nature-trail parking lots sit empty after dark on the city’s west side. Our guide to dogging in Toronto and Ontario has more.

Edmonton, Calgary and Alberta

Alberta is the one province with a dedicated dogging community online. Edmonton regulars talk about one well-known spot and admit it’s hit and miss – one said he’d only ever seen a single couple there. Calgary couples who love being watched ask for recommendations before a night out, and people further out try rural spots, where spring rain can turn a quiet lot into mud. Our guide to dogging in Edmonton, Calgary and Alberta has more.

Vancouver and British Columbia

Vancouver’s lifestyle scene is well established, and couples often meet at Wreck Beach, one of the country’s best-known clothing-optional beaches. One regular’s advice to nervous couples is to start with the dance-focused party nights and work up from there. Our guide to dogging in Vancouver and British Columbia has more.

Montreal and Quebec

Montreal is the heart of Canadian swinging – it was a Montreal club that went all the way to the Supreme Court (more on that below). Quebec couples describe the same journey as anywhere: one husband explained that his wife had found an exhibitionist streak over the years, always ending up by the hotel patio door, and they wanted to explore it together. Our guide to dogging in Montreal and Quebec has more.

The Prairies and Atlantic Canada

Winnipeg, Saskatchewan and the Maritimes have much smaller scenes, and WhosDogging members there tend to arrange things privately. In a small city, meeting online first is the only realistic way to find people. Our guides to dogging in Halifax and Nova Scotia, dogging in Moncton and New Brunswick, dogging in Winnipeg and Manitoba and dogging in Saskatoon, Regina and Saskatchewan have more.

Where do people go in Canada?

The places Canadians use are much the same as anywhere else: parking lots at nature trails and parks after dark, quiet corners of big lots on the edge of town, rural roads and pull-offs, and clothing-optional beaches in summer. We don’t name exact spots – the people who use them share details privately.

A word of warning about parks. Edmonton locals describe one riverside park as a cruising spot for decades, and a newcomer who wandered onto its trails with his dog was far from pleased. Know where you are, go late, and remember that dog walkers and joggers use these places too.

The swingers’ route in

Many Canadian couples ease in through the lifestyle. Swingers’ clubs operate in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and other cities, and they have a famous legal case to thank. In 2005, in R. v. Labaye, the Supreme Court of Canada overturned the conviction of the owner of a Montreal swingers’ club, ruling that indecency must be judged by whether conduct causes real harm, not by community disapproval.

For couples, the clubs are a safer first step than a parking lot: you can watch, meet people and find out what you both enjoy before trying anything outdoors.

Clothing-optional beaches

Hanlan’s Point, on the Toronto Islands, is a short ferry ride from downtown. It was a nude-bathing spot in the late 1800s, and the City of Toronto made it officially clothing-optional again in 2002 after a pilot. Wreck Beach in Vancouver, below the University of British Columbia, was designated clothing-optional in 1991 and is reached by a long flight of stairs. Quebec has no designated nude beach, though naturists have long used a beach in Oka National Park unofficially.

These are beaches for sunbathing and swimming. Regulars don’t welcome anything sexual, and women at Wreck Beach have warned others after men exposed themselves to them – one reported it to police. Behave as you would on any beach, and keep anything more for somewhere private.

A short season

Canadian winters shape everything. Posts in the online groups pick up as soon as the weather warms in spring, and summer is the peak. In the colder months the scene moves indoors to clubs and private parties, and the hardy stay in the car with the heater on.

Staying on the right side of the law in Canada

Canada’s rules come from the federal Criminal Code, so they’re the same in every province. Committing an indecent act in a public place in front of other people is an offence, and police regularly lay charges after complaints about people in parking lots. Simple nudity is treated more lightly: a prosecution for being nude in public needs the consent of the provincial Attorney General, which is why established clothing-optional beaches are left alone.

Parking somewhere quiet, or talking to people online, isn’t the problem. Being seen by someone who never chose to watch is. Go late, pick out-of-the-way places, stay out of view and leave if anyone else turns up. Read Is dogging legal? for the wider picture – it’s general information, not legal advice.

Meeting other doggers in Canada

In a country this big, the people who get the most out of it are the ones who arrange things first.

WhosDogging has been around since 2006 and costs nothing to join. Look up members from Vancouver to Halifax, get chatting, and agree the details before the night – where, when and what everyone’s comfortable with. New to the whole idea? Start with How to get into dogging.