E Ontario Now

Vancouver – A group of breastfeeding moms are furious over the treatment they’ve received at the Killarney Aquatic and Recreation Centre in Calgary. The women claim that while trying to breastfeed their children inside the public pool, lifeguards have verbally harassed them in an attempt to remove the women from the pool. Actions are now in motion for the breastfeeding moms to stage a pool protest, where they will gather together to feed their children inside the pool.

Leading the protest is breastfeeding mom, Gemma Kelsall, who claims that the confrontations between the moms and lifeguards have gone on for two years. Kelsall claims that lifeguards have warned her of the risks of her child consuming pool water, drowning, or possibly vomiting or defecating in the pool after breastfeeding.

The women involved in the protest say that it’s their right to breastfeed wherever they want, and since the pool doesn’t have a written policy prohibiting breastfeeding in the pool, there shouldn’t be an issue with it occurring. The women also state that it is impractical to expect them to leave the pool to breastfeed their children.

The city’s aquatics manager, Jim McDonald, has publicly stated that the issue was simply a misunderstanding and that the mother’s can continue to breastfeed in the public pool, stating that, “The intention of the staff is to provide information to the mothers just to prevent the possibility of ingestion of water.”