A new mom says her privacy has been violated by a man who filmed her while she was breastfeeding.
Nicole Fraser says a trip to the Cape Breton Regional Hospital, with her 10-month-old daughter daughter Tyler Rose, turned into an unsettling experience.
“About five to ten minutes into breastfeeding her,” the new mother explains, “the woman sitting across from me started screaming at a gentleman, saying ‘I can’t believe you’re recording her breastfeeding.’”
Fraser says, when she looked up, a man had a cellphone pointed in her direction. She says she went to security to complain, but that her complaint was ignored.
“The security guard said there’s not much we can do,” adds Fraser. “We can’t take his phone, we can’t remove him from the building, there’s really nothing we can do for you.”
Fraser says she was wearing a large sweater and tank top at the time, and has breastfed her daughter in public numerous times, but says nothing like this has ever happened.
“In relation to the response by security, that’s part of our follow-up,” explains Greg Boone, a spokesperson for the Nova Scotia Health Authority. “That’s part of our discussion. We’re not going to debate what security did or did not do or the level of response from security.”
The mother contacted police who she says responded and took witness statements.
“The video recording is an allegation because we don’t have exact or firm proof that there was an actual video recording made at the time,” explains Boone. “But we’re going on the concerns and complaints from the mom.”
Fraser says she has met with the Nova Scotia Health Authority and has been given a verbal apology, but is still upset with the man who took the video.
“I felt completely violated,” she says, “like I was being sexually objectified for doing something that I’m legally allowed to do, that every mother is legally allowed to do. I felt violated.”
Boone says the Nova Scotia Health Authority supports Fraser, saying it’s natural, healthy and within her rights to breastfeed in the hospital, and says visitors are not to be recorded without consent.
Boone says the health authority will share the details of its investigation with Fraser when it’s completed.
Cape Breton Regional Police say no charges will be laid.
Meanwhile, Fraser says she’s speaking out not only for herself and her daughter, but so other mothers don’t have a similar experience.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kyle Moore.
