Oct. 4, 2000 - Canadian officials are hoping a widespread
breastfeeding publicity campaign will make nursing in public more
acceptable.
The Ontario Human Rights Commission along with the Infant
Feeding Action Coalition (INFACT) Canada and Toronto Public
Health department launched a month-long advertising campaign
earlier this week aimed at ending discrimination of mothers who
nurse in public.
The ad campaign, which features posters of breasfed babies
and nursing infants displayed in Toronto subway cars and
high-traffic subway stations, was launched in celebration of
World Breastfeeding Week. While the United States celebrates
World Breastfeeding Week the first week of August each year,
Canada and several European nations celebrate the first week of
October.
One poster used in the campaign features three "mug shots" of
breastfed babies with the caption: "Breast-feeding in public is
not a crime." Another poster shows a baby nursing and reads:
"Don't think of it as a woman's right to breast-feed. Think of it
as a baby's right to eat." The posters will also be displayed in
the other Ontario cities of Kingston, Windsor and Ottawa.
"Women's and children's health are human rights. Women have the
right to participate in and contribute fully to society while
fulfilling the responsibilities of motherhood," said Ontario
Human Rights Chief Commissioner Keith Norton in a prepared
statement.
According to the Ontario Human Rights Commission, women have the
right to nurse their children in pubic, and the right to a
positive work environment where they can breastfeed their
children comfortably and without fear of stigma. Under the
Ontario Human Rights Code, refusing or denying a service to a
pregnant or nursing mother is discrimination based on sex and
being in a parent-child relationship.
"It takes time to change entrenched attitudes, but it can be
done," said Elisabeth Sterken, INFACT Canada's National Director.
"Let's hope the day soon arrives when discrimination against
breastfeeding women is viewed as being as no less reprehensible
than discrimination against any other member of society."
Contact the Ontario Human Rights Commission to receive a copy of
its Policy on Discrimination Because of Pregnancy at
1-800-387-9080 or on its Web site at
www.ohrc.on.ca
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