Montreal mom asked to stop breastfeeding at downtown mall
Posted March 25, 2022 12:23 pm.
Last Updated March 25, 2022 6:45 pm.
Most parents know that when their baby is hungry, they’re hungry and it’s time to feed them. No matter where or when. And that’s exactly what one Montreal mother says she was doing at a downtown mall.
Isabelle Côté was breastfeeding four-month-old Leopold on a bench inside the Eaton Centre on March 19, when she explains that a security guard came up to them and told her to stop or leave the premises.
“I went through a whole lot of emotions is a short period of time,” says Côté. “The security agent came to me and told me i wasn’t able to breastfeed there and I was really surprised. So, I said, ‘why,’ and she said because it was an intimate act and it should be done in private.”
The mother said she was intimidated. “I was shy, I was even ashamed by being surrounded by agents. Then at home I became upset and I wanted to share that with my friends and just be a normal mom being upset about something abnormal that she just went through.”
That’s when Côté posted her experience on social media, “Breastfeeding NOT allowed in 2022 at @centreeaton / @ivanhoecambridge ?!?! I was asked to stop by security agent and her supervisor! This is unacceptable and unconstitutional! #breastfeeding in public is a fundamental right!”
The post has since gone viral – leading to other moms sharing their stories of being shamed for breastfeeding their children in public.
And a group of Montreal moms decided to organize a breastfeeding sit-in at the Eaton Centre this Sunday at 2 p.m. (March 27) to bring awareness, saying breastfeeding is a necessity and a right and not something mothers should be shamed for doing in public. The event’s Facebook page shows over 500 mothers intend to take part.
“I felt compelled. It pulled my heart string literally, because it could’ve been me, it could’ve been any other breastfeeding parent,” said sit-in organizer and mom of two Valérie Laframboise.
“We’re definitely taking a stand right here. We want people to feel comfortable and safe to breastfeed wherever they want, whenever they want, whenever it’s required.”
Côté is a former lawyer and says not only is it not right to stop a person from breastfeeding, it’s illegal.
“It is unconstitutional to prevent the woman from breastfeeding in public. It has been determined by the courts already. It was said that it’s a discrimination based on sex. So, it’s not even a legal question anymore. I think we’re at a different point now. I think we need to apply this in real life right.”
According to 2017-2018 stats by the Observatoire des tout-petits, 89 per cent of Quebec mothers breastfeed their babies.
For Côté, she wants to make sure mothers don’t feel ashamed to breastfeed in public like she was made to feel on that day. “That they feel comfortable to do it and that they feel supported by the society.”
Advocates says there needs to be more education and awareness to break the stigma.
“There’s I think a lot of learning still to do, and there’s this difference between sexualization of the breast versus the breast that are there to fill their primary function which is feeding your child,” explained Laframboise,
“Breastfeeding should be normalized. It should just be an every day thing that no one has any particular thoughts about. It should just be a thing,” said Côté’s partner Wayne Choi. “Like no one’s going to say a thing if I’m eating a chocolate bar.”
CityNews reached out to the Eaton Centre and GardaWorld, in charge of the mall’s security agents, for comment on the incident, but did not hear back.
The Eaton Centre previously told La Presse that it was an isolated incident and that they encourage breastfeeding in all their common areas. “All administrative and support staff were met with to reiterate its policies regarding breastfeeding in the common areas,” Melyssa Houle, Eaton Centre director, told them. And stated to the Journal de Montreal that they are adhering to what’s “prescribed by the Quebec and Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms” when it comes to breastfeeding.
According to Côté, Eaton Centre officials are aware of the Sunday sit-in and have offered their support to the mothers taking part.
