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Date: | Tue, 12 Aug 1997 19:42:12 -0500 |
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Part of a story in the Globe and Mail, August 12, 1997
Vancouver--A woman's right to breastfeed at work is protected under
British Columbia's human-rights legislation, a provincial panel has
ruled.
In the first case in Canada to deal with breastfeeding in public, BC
human rights tribunal member Tom Patch ruled that prohibiting
breastfeeding at work is a form of sex discrimination.
This decision will likely reverberate across the country, Marthanne
Robson, a Quebec lawyer and supporter of the Toronto-based Infant
Feeding Action Coalition, said yesterday.
Human rights in most jurisdictions does not deal with breastfeeding, she
said, because it is a fundamental right that does not need to be
specified by law.
...
The BC decision stems from complaints made by women about someone who
was breastfeeding her 6 month old daughter at a work related event that
was open to the public.
...
The ruling will not change Ms. Poirier's life. While the case proceeded
over the years, Ms. Poirier weaned her daughter and had another daughter
which was breastfed and weaned.
...
The decision will not affect government policy because the province
changed its policies before the matter was resolved. Managers in the BC
civil service have been directed to make reasonable efforts to
accomodate women who wish to breastfeed at work.
By the way (this is no longer the article from the newspaper) the whole
process took six and a half years.
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