Apparently there was some miscommunication amongst city employees regarding the City policy on breastfeeding in pools. Fourtanately, Heather Bruce, the City Aquatics and Recreation Manager, cleared up the confusion by stating that there has never been a policy against mothers breastfeeding the the water. All City pools will now post "breastfeeding friendly" signs.
What's really sad about this whole story is that the woman who seems to have spear-headed the protest - Gemma Kelsall - has received hate mail and harassment because of this. The CBC reports that Gemma said:
"I have received over a 100 pieces of hate mail in the last two days via my Facebook [group]. People searching me out — strangers. I've been looking at the CBC website and there's over 800 comments this morning, most of them saying we're wrong, we're child abusers, we're disgusting... but I have also got a lot of support and love. I don't want to turn this into a bad news story, 'cause it's really a good news story."I think it's really sad that some people think the act of breastfeeding in public is "disgusting" and dare to call these women "child abusers." Breastfeeding is the most natural and nurturning thing, and once again (I cannot say this enough), I applaud Gemma and the other women involved for standing up for this important issue.
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