While she has accepted an apology from the retail chain, an Olds area woman who alleges she was asked not to breastfeed her 10-month-old daughter in a fitting room at the Olds Wal-Mart said she is filing a complaint with the Alberta Human Rights Commission.
Tanya Planken said she went to Wal-Mart on the afternoon of Aug. 6 to get groceries and when her daughter became hungry, she decided to breastfeed her at the store, since her home is roughly 30 minutes outside town.
“Little Sarah was fussy, so I knew I had to nurse her, as I've done in the past,” she said, adding she has used a fitting room at the store for nursing on a regular basis—as many as two times a week—for nearly nine months without hearing any concerns from store staff.
When she went to the fitting room area, a staff member, who Planken said she knows well, asked her if she would mind waiting to breastfeed Sarah since the fitting area was busy at the time.
Although she agreed to wait, Planken said she saw a woman who she believes is a store supervisor speak quietly to the staff member.
The staff member then told Planken she could not nurse Sarah in the fitting room and would instead have to take her to a “family washroom” in the store.
Planken said the supervisor then continued to say she had to use the washroom for breastfeeding as the fitting room area was too busy.
She said she was “disgusted” by the suggestion of nursing a baby in a washroom.
“I was shocked again. I said how would you like it if I took a dump and you came along with your ham sandwich?”
The fitting room area staff member was upset by this interaction, Planken added, and after the supervisor stepped away, the staff member apologized before telling Planken she could use the fitting room for nursing if she could wait.
After waiting about five minutes, Planken said she did end up nursing in the fitting room but the supervisor was waiting outside the door.
When she came out, the supervisor told her two customers had to wait while Sarah was fed, Planken said.
She said this comment appalled her and she told the supervisor she was going to report her to a manager.
The supervisor also allegedly told her the store's staff had a problem with Planken breastfeeding in the fitting room but no one said anything before the Aug. 6 incident, Planken said.
“The sad thing is that I've been believing that they've been supportive of me,” she added.
She said she told several employees at the store about the incident and a produce manager, who Planken said was disturbed by the details of her story, agreed to approach management about concerns.
After she left the store, she received a call from a store manager who asked for details about the incident and said the store would investigate.
Planken, who said she shops at Wal-Mart regularly, alleged staff at the store have told her in the past to use the family washroom for nursing when Sarah has become hungry while shopping.
“I just usually shrug it over,” she said, adding when she did nurse in the washroom, the conditions were not sanitary for breastfeeding.
After this incident, however, Planken said she wanted a public apology because she feels she was “treated like crap” and made to feel “insecure.”
“I feel insecure that I basically had to be pushed aside because a woman wanted to try on a pair of jeans.”
The incident, she added, was a case of discrimination.
“You have no right to tell me that I can't nurse my baby, whoever you are.”
According to a statement on its website, the Alberta Human Rights Commission's position on breastfeeding in retail establishments is that “retailers must allow women who need to breastfeed their children in a public area the opportunity to do so.”
“Retailers should not ask the mother to cover up or move to a different location. While some retailers may wish to provide a private space for breastfeeding, there is no obligation to provide such space, nor is there an obligation for mothers to use such space.”
Alex Roberton, Wal-Mart Canada's corporate affairs and social media director, said he prepared and delivered an apology to Planken on the company's behalf on Aug. 7.
He said he wasn't aware of all the details of the incident, but based on information he received from Planken's husband, the situation was unacceptable and he clarified the corporation's policy on breastfeeding to the family.
“It's absolutely our policy to ensure that all of our customers, which means moms, feel very welcome to breastfeed in our stores and they're absolutely welcome to use change rooms if they choose to.”
Since the corporation has roughly 95,000 staff members across Canada and there is a regular “rotation of associates,” such a policy needs to be “continually reinforced” to employees,” Roberton added.
As for whether any employees at the Olds store would be disciplined over the matter, Roberton said he could not comment.
“I don't think that it was in any way the intent of the store associates to make this a pointed issue by any stretch.”
Diane Warren, a customer service associate at the Olds Wal-Mart who agreed to speak with the Olds Albertan, said no one should have told Planken she could not breastfeed her child in the fitting room.
“That was so wrong. She could have said, in a very nice manner, we have a place for nursing, or just let her go ahead and nurse,” she said. “That was very rude of the associate.”
Warren also said the store should consider a “designated area” for breastfeeding and added she agrees the public restroom is not a sanitary location for nursing.
Planken said that while she accepts Wal-Mart's apology and plans to continue shopping at the store, she has already begun the process of filing a formal complaint with the Alberta Human Rights Commission and wants to let the public know about the incident.
“It's 2013 and it's still happening,” she said. “I want people to know. This is disgusting. I'm angry. And not only am I angry, it's embarrassing.”
She also said the store should have a fitting room designated for breastfeeding and the person responsible for asking her not to use the fitting room for nursing should receive a reprimand and take a course on how to appropriately interact with customers.
In May, a Spruce Grove Wal-Mart found itself in hot water when store staff refused to print a photograph of a mother nursing her son.
The corporation ended up apologizing to the family.
