BC law decides breastfeeding
is a woman’s right
Landmark decision ends six-year battle
for Michelle Poirier
 At
last breastfeeding women in BC have the clarity of the law--stopping
women from breastfeeding at work or in public is a form of sex
discrimination and is prohibited under that province’s Human
Rights Code.
The clarification came in a decision handed down on July 30,1997,
regarding the case brought by Michelle Poirier against her former
employer, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs. After Michelle had
breastfed her daughter Aaneli at a noon-hour seminar in March
1991, the ministry introduced a policy barring children from
the workplace.
“The reactions of the Respondent had the effect of imposing
burdens on the Complainant that were not imposed on other employees
because of the fact that she was breastfeeding her child,”
wrote Tom Patch member of the Human Rights Tribunal in his Reasons
for the Decision. He noted that there are no Canadian cases which
address whether discrimination against a woman who is breastfeeding
is prohibited by human rights legislation. But that analogies
can be drawn to cases related to pregnancy. In Brooks vs Canada
Safeway the court concluded that distinctions based on pregnancy,
can be none other than distinctions based on sex (Chief Justice
Dickson, 1989).
Although breastfeeding is a basic human right, it is when
women try to exercise this right that problems of harassment
occur. Human rights legislation in most provinces do not specify
breastfeeding as a right, therefore the BC decision will be influential
in determining similar cases in other provinces.
The precedent-setting decision extends well beyond the workplace.
It clarifies that it is illegal to ask a woman to refrain from
breastfeeding in a school yard, shopping mall or recreation centre
or in a restaurant or in fact in any place open to the public.
Poirier hopes the decision will bolster women’s self-confidence
in public and encourage women to provide their children with
the benefits of breastmilk even after they return to the workplace.
“We only hope this decision will help to normalize the natural
functioning of the female body so that women in our society have
greater support to participate fully in their communities and
their economy.” (Continues on next page--Q
& A with Michelle Poirier) |
