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The shame and the pain are intolerable, and weight discrimination must end, professional dietitian and activist Lindsey Mazur declared on the steps of the Manitoba legislature Wednesday afternoon.

"I've seen the pain and the shame my clients have experienced," Mazur told a rally supported by all three political parties. "It's important to recognize this is a human rights issue -- it's not about how fit you are, or how healthy you are, or what you eat."

Mazur, the founder of the group Manitobans Against Weight Stigma, told the rally that weight is being used to deny jobs or promotion.

Liberal MLA Jon Gerrard reintroduced Wednesday a private member's bill from the last session that would include weight discrimination under the human rights code.

"It would include a category of physical size and weight," Gerrard said. "Where people have a concern about being bullied, they could have it investigated and have some redress."

Prof. Deborah McPhail, a researcher with the faculty of health sciences at the University of Manitoba, said that "larger people" are frequently dismissed as just being out of control. They're denied insurance, mothers are threatened with having their children taken from them if they don't lose weight, and women are advised not to have children because of their weight, she said.

"They are routinely denied employment based on weight," said McPhail.

While health problems are linked to a person's weight, "it may be (better) attributed to the stress of being stigmatized," she said.

"It's pretty distressing," Gerrard said. "Shaming and blaming people makes it much harder."

New Democrat MLA Andrew Swan said it is inappropriate for people discriminated against due to their weight to have only the option under human rights legislation of claiming they're suffering discrimination over a disability. They're not disabled, said Swan, who intends to support Gerrard's bill.

"What is very important is, right now, there's no protection against losing a job or not getting a promotion. People are made to feel uncomfortable at the gym or at the store," Swan said.

If Gerrard's bill passes, said Mazur, "It will be the first of its kind to pass in Canada. Iceland for several years has had it in its human rights code."

Conservative backbencher Greg Nesbitt attended the rally but would not commit the Tory caucus to voting for Gerrard's bill.

"We certainly believe in what they're saying," Nesbitt said.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca