Dozens of mothers and others championing the right to breastfeed in public noisily converged on a Douglas Street pizza parlour in Victoria Friday afternoon, waving signs with messages such as “breastfeeding is not loitering” and attracting honks from passing vehicles.

The protest virtually shut down lunch-hour business at Second Slice Pizza at 1322 Douglas St., where Brianna Donovan, 23, said she was asked to leave Thursday evening.

article continues below

Donovan said it was because she was nursing her five-month-old son, Jeremiah.

But the restaurant owner’s son, Sina Haji-Valizadeh, said the request to leave had “absolutely nothing to do with breastfeeding” and was made because the group Donovan was with had bought no food or drink for half an hour. He said asking people to leave is something restaurant employees do several times a week, which sometimes includes calling the police or security.

Donovan said the staff member did not refer to breastfeeding when the group was asked to leave.

“They said they’d call the cops,” she said. “They told us to get off the property.”

Friday’s crowd showed up with babes in arms, carriers and strollers after seeing Donovan’s online postings about the incident, saying mothers have the right to feed their babies in public in B.C.

Haji-Valizadeh said Donovan had moved to a different table when the group was asked to leave and “at no point did the employee address the mother.”

She had been breastfeeding for several minutes at that time, “so clearly we had no problem with her breastfeeding.”

According to a restaurant security camera video, Donovan bought a slice of pizza after entering with several others at 6:31 p.m., left after eating it at 6:36 p.m. and returned 11 minutes later with a man, Haji-Valizadeh said.

At 6:53, Donovan moved to a table on her own and began to breastfeed. At 7 p.m., an employee asked the group to leave, likely mentioning the police, Haji-Valizadeh said.

The group left at 7:02 p.m.

Donovan was the only member of the group who had ordered anything for about 30 minutes, Haji-Valizadeh said.

Donovan said the outpouring of support was unexpected and welcome.

In B.C., all mothers have the legal right to breastfeed in any public area. Asking a mother who is breastfeeding her child to move or cover up is illegal.

Katelin Maggs, 28, holding nine-month-old Xavier, said she has been told to cover up while breastfeeding at Willows beach.

Even if it wasn’t the restaurant staff’s intention to single Donovan out for breastfeeding, “that’s how she felt,” Maggs said.

kdedeyna@timescolonist.com

What the video recording shows

Sina Haji-Valizadeh, the son of Second Slice Pizza owner, provided this rundown of what security footage shows.

Not all of what he describes is visible in the camera view posted below.

The video runs from 6:31pm-7:14pm.

Start: Mother and group enters. Mother buys slice of pizza. No other purchases made.

5 minutes: Mother finishes slice of pizza and leaves with a man who just enters. Group stays in restaurant.

16 minutes: Mother re-enters with the same man.

22 minutes: Mother moves to another table, begins to breastfeed, sitting apart from group.

29 minutes: Employee asks group to leave. He clearly addresses the group sitting at the long table. The long table and group were in between the employee and the breastfeeding mother. The employee asks again and likely notifies the group that the police will and can be called (this is regular protocol and the police/security are called 4-5 times per week). We like to emphasis that at no point did the employee address the mother sitting at the different table.

31 minutes: Group leaves, but mother stays in front of doorway blocking the entrance, on phone. She is NOT breastfeeding at this point.