Nursing mom gets an apology from golf club
Woman breastfeeding at Lambton GCC says she was led to basement after complaints from diners
A Toronto country club has apologized to Alexandra Shimo, a woman who says she was escorted into its basement when breastfeeding her baby in a hallway there.
Shimo was attending a charity gala at the Lambton Golf and Country Club with her partner, Lia Grimanis, last Saturday night.
Shimo said her two-and-a-half-monthold baby, Jacob, got hungry during dinner, so she went into a hallway corner to feed him.
Then, she recalled, someone who she thinks was the restaurant’s manager approached her with a cloth to shield her from view, citing complaints from people who did not want to see her breastfeeding while they were eating.
Shimo said she was then led by a staff member to the basement to continue feeding Jacob.
“I thought, why are people disgusted or upset by the sight of a child eating while they are eating? It didn’t make any sense to me,” she said.
Shimo said she felt the way the club’s staffer treated her was an attempt to accommodate people who are intolerant of something natural.
On Monday, the president of the Lambton’s board of governors, Bob Beaumont, and chief operating officer, John Demko, sent an apology to Shimo and posted it publicly.
“I’d like to encourage any other mothers to just stand their ground and recognize that the more we are strong, the more we speak up, the faster we will be able to change things.” LIA GRIMANIS PARTNER OF ALEXANDRA SHIMO
“Our staff member should have acted differently and not have asked you to move to another location at the club to continue feeding your baby,” the letter said.
The apology said the restaurant, which is more than 100 years old, plans to make sure its staff are aware of the province’s human rights code as it applies to women breastfeeding and will provide sensitivity training to its staff.
“We unreservedly apologize for the discomfort this caused you,” the letter said.
Shimo said she’s happy the apology came, especially because it was made publicly.
“Lots of establishments who might think of asking a woman to move might now think twice,” she said. The Ontario Human Rights Commission says that women have the right to breastfeed in public and not to be disturbed or asked to move to a more discreet location.
The commission says such services, including those offered by restaurants, cafés, stores and at parks must be provided to breastfeeding women without discrimination.
After the incident, Grimanis posted a photo on Facebook showing Shimo breastfeeding and a caption explaining that she had been taken to the club’s basement. That post has since been inundated with a thread of infuriated comments coming from around the world, some from women who reacted by sharing their own similar experiences.
“I’m really happy for the fact that it has helped move the issue forward on a larger scale,” Grimanis said. “I’d like to encourage any other mothers to just stand their ground and recognize that the more we are strong, the more we speak up, the faster we will be able to change things.”
Shimo says she was amazed how many people had such intense feel- ings about the issue.
But, as active citizen — she’s an author with a book coming out this Thursday — she thinks it’s an important one for people to understand.
“For women to continue to engage with their communities, their lives and the public, they just need to be able to breastfeed whenever — otherwise they are going to be shut (in) at home all the time.”