I wish I had been able to attend the Normal Birth Conference with Asheya! I had been hoping to, but at the last minute I wasn’t able to go. Hopefully next year I will be able to travel to wherever it is held, and attend! Thank you to Asheya for representing Mothers of Change in an environment that is also attuned to positive changes in birth culture, and advocating for women and babies across the country. It was inspiring to read about your experience, and to hear about
National Childbirth Trust, an organization that parallels ours and is so successful and well established in the UK! It is truly consumer advocacy that drives any change in medical culture.
Another cultural shift that is related to birth advocacy is that surrounding the rights of breastfeeding mothers. Each province in Canada has its own laws regarding breastfeeding rights, but all provinces’ legislation comes down heavily in favour of protecting nursing mothers.
The following information is from the BC Attorney General’s office:
“Nursing mothers have the right to breastfeed their children in a public area and it is discriminatory to ask them to cover up or breastfeed somewhere else. The Human Rights Code applies to all businesses, agencies, and services in BC. It protects people from discrimination in public situations, which include schools, workplaces, universities, hospitals, medical clinics, stores, restaurants, provincial and local government offices, and transit services.”
Not all women feel comfortable nursing their babies in public. At Mothers of Change we advocate empowering women to do what they feel is best for their bodies, their lives, and their families as they experience pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and beyond. If women prefer to nurse in privacy, we advocate that they be empowered to nurse in privacy. If businesses and places women frequent provide mothers’ rooms for women to breastfeed in privacy if they so choose, these women can be empowered. If women prefer to nurse in public but to do so discreetly, we advocate that they do so. And if women prefer to nurse in public and not be discreet, we want them, and all Canadians, to know that they have the right to do so. We hope to advocate for a cultural shift towards supporting families as they nurture their children in a variety of wonderful ways.
INFACT Canada (Infant Feeding Action Coalition) states that,
“To be empowered, women must have not only the ability to act, but also the right to do so. One of the obstacles to breastfeeding continues to be concern over whether or not it is acceptable to do so in public. Some women fear offending others if they breastfeed in public places. We believe that women have the right to breastfeed whenever and wherever they want. Communities need to be sensitized to the ways in which they can actively support breastfeeding.”
Breastfeeding is a human right. Babies have the right to freely access their ideal food, and women have a right to feed their babies in any public or private place.
To file a complaint regarding breach of this right, families in BC can contact the BC Human Rights Coalition at
http://www.bchrcoalition.org/, toll free at 1-877-689-8474, or the BC Civil Liberties Association at jesse@bccla.org, or (604)630-9754.
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