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This article was published 10/3/2015 (2627 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A Winnipeg woman who was harassed by a security guard while breastfeeding her eight-month-old daughter in Portage Place Shopping Centre on Monday has received an apology from the mall’s manager.
Tara Leger said it wasn’t lost on her the three-minute encounter with a security guard, during which she was told repeatedly to use the family washroom to nurse her daughter, took place a day after International Women’s Day.
PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Tara Leger, with her baby Zoe, was harassed for several minutes by a man who appeared to be a security guard about breastfeeding in public.
"I thought we were past all of this," she said. "Any breast-feeding mom will tell you that you always get the looks when you’re nursing in public but I’ve never experienced that before."
Leger said she deliberately found a quiet place near an elevator in case she needed to make a quick exit with an unco-operative baby. She was approached soon after by a security guard who told her that her actions were "offensive" and suggested strongly that she stop doing it in a public space.
"I tried to be as polite as possible. There were five or six people waiting to get on the elevator and they were staring me down. I thanked (the guard) and told him I was fine. When he kept going, I told him I was well within my rights," she said.
Meanwhile, her eldest child, a three-year-old daughter, sat in her stroller eating Cheerios.
When she got home, she posted her experience to her friends on Facebook but realized soon after the story should be more widely told. Since then, it has been shared more than 350 times.
Dave Stone, general manager of Portage Place, sent Leger an apologetic email on Tuesday morning.
"I am sorry to hear of your interaction with one of our security personnel. This is in no way acceptable from my perspective and I will use this message as a point of conversation for training of all of our guards so that they have a better understanding of a women’s right to feed her child," Stone said.
Leger was quick to acknowledge the silver lining and said she was happy the incident will be used in employee training.
"That’s great it’s going to be used for educational purposes," she said.
geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca
