March 25, 1997

The Panther Prints

Breast feeding case goes before human rights commision

By SARAH GALASHAN

(CUP) — Six years after be- ing told not to breastfeed her daughter at work, Michelle Poirier is still fighting to make breastfeeding in the workplace a legal right.

In a hearing that began March 6, Poirier charged her former employer, B.C.’s Min- istry of Municipal A ffairs, with sex discrimination. Her pio- neering efforts to have the case heard by the BC Human Rights Commission will determine if

women have the right to

breastfeed their children at work.

As a speech writer for the ministry, Poirier regularly breastfed her child at her desk over the lunch hour. And ini- tially, she said, she felt her colleagues accepted the situa- tion. “It hadn’t been a prob- lem. Everyone around me was really supportive and enthusi- astic,” Poirier said.

After breastfeeding at one of the ministry’s public lunch-hour seminars, however, tension developed. Poirier was asked not to attend upcoming lectures, and told not to bring

her child to work because it made some staff feel uncom- fortable.

“The beauty about hav- ing my child brought to my desk was that if I had a dead- line I could delay my lunch, pick up my childand breastfeed while I was working,” said Poirier.

As a result, the former ministry employee — who’s

‘job change was in no way

connected to her allegations of sex discrimination — was forced to take her infant to restaurants or shopping malls over the lunch hour.

This, she said, was often an unpleasant experience. “I was in the Eaton’s cafe and an elderly woman came up to me and shouted ‘you should be doing that in the toilet’.”

But despite people’s hos- tility towards public breastfeeding, Poirier said, the benefits for her child made the experience “unquestionably worth it.”

“As far as I’m concerned there is no comparison be- tween breastmilk and formula. This is a health issue,” Poirier said, “and for me it was choos-

ing between health and em- ployment.”

INFACT Canada, anon- profit organisation that pro- tects, supports and promotes breastfeeding, backs Poirier. According to INFACT, breastmilk can protect infants from infection and reduce a woman’s chances of develop- ing breast cancer.

However, INFACT feels this natural form of child nutri- tionis still not widely accepted, despite the health benefits.

“We've sexualized breasts so much in this cul- ture,” said Jean. Geary, fundraiser for INFACT Canada. “It’s got to the point where to expose your breasts for sexual purposes is perfectly fine, but to expose your breasts to love and nurture your child is seen as disgusting.”

Poirier anticipates the hearings will take some time to be resolved but is anxious for an outcome that will affect the rights of all Canadian women.

“T don’t think women should ever have to choose between the health of their child and a paid job,” she said.

HELPING THE WORLD WRITE

literacy in the developing world For information, call +800-661+-2633

NOW SW CODE Self-sufficiency through