Stopwatch Gang

The Stopwatch Gang, led by Ottawa’s own Paddy Mitchell (who grew up in Little Italy), Stephen Reid (of Massey, Ontario), and Lionel Wright, are perhaps Canada’s most infamous bank robbers. The trio, whose orchestrated meticulous heists never took longer than 90 seconds, robbed more than 100 banks and armoured cars during the 1970s and 80s in the United States and Canada. Their most notorious job was a 1974 gold heist (worth $750,000) at the Ottawa airport, earning themselves a place on the FBI’s most-wanted list. The gang’s exploits were detailed in several movies, including Point Break (1991) and The Heist (2001), as well as in the book The Stopwatch Gang (1992) by Toronto Sun reporter Greg Weston, and in Mitchell’s own memoir, This Bank Robber’s Life, which he wrote in prison and sold over the Internet. While still in jail, Reid wrote his own book, a semi-autobiographical novel titled Jackrabbit Parole. Through this book he met his editor, West Coast poet and writer Susan Musgrave, and in 1986 they married while he was still imprisoned. Upon his release a year later, he and Musgrave attempted to live a quiet life on Vancouver Island, and had a child as well. He appeared as a rifle-toting security guard in a 15-second cameo (as well as acting as the film’s bank heist consultant) in the independent movie Four Days (1999). Unfortunately, in the spring of 1999 in Victoria, BC, his heroin addiction resulted in a return to crime and a botched robbery and shootout; currently, Reid remains in prison. The leader of the gang, Patrick “Paddy” Mitchell, called “North America’s most famous, most successful and, especially, most likeable bank robber of our time” by his son, grew up on Preston Street in Ottawa, and died of cancer on in 2007 in a US prison while serving a 65-year sentence. Wright served his sentence, and according to a 2005 report from the CBC, worked as an accountant for Corrections Canada. The gold from the airport robbery in 1974 was never recovered.

Ottawa, Clothing-Optional

Founded in 2004 by two guys from Vancouver and Seattle respectively, the World Naked Bike Ride is an international event with participants from numerous activist groups—including the Work Less Party of British Columbia, THONG (Topless Humans Organized for Natural Genetics) of Chicago, and Seattle’s Naked Freedom Film Festival. WNBR’s mandate is summed up best on their website: “We face automobile traffic with our naked bodies as the best way of defending our dignity and exposing the unique dangers faced by cyclists and pedestrians as well as the negative consequences we all face due to dependence on oil and other forms of non-renewable energy.” Ottawa’s
annual version of this event began in June of 2005 with about nine participants (there were over 50 participants at the 2007 event). Here, the au naturel cyclists’ route leads them from the fountain in Confederation Park (where there’s body painting), then along Somerset Street West. Sometimes they’ll even stop for gelato and a swim in the Ottawa River along the way. If you participate, be aware that traffic laws must be obeyed—otherwise, the only required accoutrement is a helmet.

If the World Naked Bike Ride isn’t enough for you, unfortunately there really aren’t that many other places to get publicly naked in and around Ottawa (big surprise). Some options include: the relative privacy of the nude beach at beautiful Meech Lake in Gatineau Park, or the sketchier digs (not nearly as upscale as the first) nearby at the old mill falls. Maps and other information can be found by checking out the Federation of Canadian Naturists website (fcn.ca), or the Ottawa Naturists (onno.ca).