Mother kicked out of pool for breastfeeding says she'll fight back

Cinira Longuinho says she's still reeling after being told not breastfeed in a Newmarket pool a few  weeks ago.

"I was numb. I didn't know what to do. I was shocked.  I was like why? What is all this? I was just breastfeeding," she said. 

But the owner of the private pool said her priority is keeping the pool clean for everyone.

"It's possible that the child just finished drinking, having milk, is going to throw up or have a bowel movement," said Ellie Karkouti. 

A few days later Longuinho and several her friends showed up at the Newmarket Aquacenter Swim School pool to silently protest what had happened. They were greeted by four security guards — at least one of them carrying handcuffs.

Longuinho says she is going to take her case to the Ontario Human Rights Commission. 

"It was my human right. She violated my human right to breastfeed and I knew that," said Longuinho.

Laura Brady from nearby Caledon, has been following Longuinho's story closely. She was similarly told not to breastfeed in a Caledon pool. She took the case to the Human Rights Commission and won.

"They said it was a human rights issue, that I have a right to breastfeed anywhere anytime, in a public space or private space, and so mediated in my favour," she said. 

"They also had to put a plaque up in the pool area saying, 'This is a breastfeeding friendly space,' which made me really happy because that's the main thing — that other moms can see it and say, 'Of course I can.'"

York Region promotes breastfeeding anytime, anywhere and health officials say breast milk will not harm pool water.

But Karkouti maintains she didn't do anything wrong.

"I think the [Ontario] Human Rights Commission, I hope, will look at it as, you know, what it has to be — the health and safety of everybody, as well as us operating our business. I offered her other areas [to breastfeed]. I didn't make her cover up, I didn't kick her out of the building." 

But Longuinho isn't deterred. "I'm doing all this because I really think it's important for women to go in public and breastfeed without being scared."