Latest news with #washrooms
CTV News
24-07-2025
- CTV News
Homeless advocate questions locked washrooms in Sudbury park
Northern Ontario Watch Advocates question why Greater Sudbury's Memorial Park washrooms, which are co-owned by the city, remain locked this summer. The City cites safety issues and vandalism, but says repairs are pending. Homeless individuals say the closures worsen public sanitation problems. Alana Everson has the latest.
CTV News
03-07-2025
- Health
- CTV News
Tribunal rules that lack of washroom access for Sudbury's homeless isn't a human rights case
A man who said the fact homeless people in Sudbury didn't have round-the-clock access to washrooms was a human rights violation has lost his appeal to a provincial tribunal. A man who said the fact homeless people in Sudbury didn't have round-the-clock access to washrooms was a human rights violation has lost his appeal to a provincial tribunal. The tribunal said it didn't have jurisdiction to hear the case because being homeless isn't, in itself, a violation of human rights under the Human Rights Code in Ontario. Holland Marshall launched a case with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario on behalf of 21 people, 'each of whom is a person without housing residing in the Sudbury area,' the tribunal said in its decision, dated June 27. 'Several of the applicants also suffer (from) mental or physical disabilities. The alleged basis of discrimination is the failure of the respondent to offer toilet and hand washing facilities that are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.' Missing key elements In a ruling April 4, the tribunal told Marshall that his case was missing key elements to qualify as a human rights complaint. 'A review of the application and the narrative setting out the incidents of alleged discrimination fails to identify any specific acts of discrimination within the meaning of the Code allegedly committed by the respondent,' the tribunal said. 'The tribunal does not have jurisdiction over general allegations of unfairness …' Marshall amended his application April 17, but the tribunal said it still lacked key elements. 'The alleged basis of discrimination is the failure of the respondent to offer toilet and hand washing facilities that are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.' — Ontario Human Rights Tribunal decision 'The tribunal's jurisdiction is limited to enforcement of the Code,' the decision said. 'The Code only prohibits actions that discriminate against people based on their enumerated ground(s) in a protected social area.' While Marshall argued the discrimination was based on disability, the tribunal said, 'it is clear from the submissions that the applicant's focus is on the applicant's status of homelessness.' 'This is acknowledged in their submissions wherein they state 'this application is not asking to address general allegations of unfairness, it is addressing … the respondent's different treatment of the city's population that has housing and the claimants who do not.'' While there may be a connection between someone having a disability and homelessness, the tribunal said they can't be substituted for each other. And 'in this case, not all of the 21 purported applicants have an identified disability.' Previous rulings have determined that homelessness is not a ground for a complaint to the tribunal under the Code. 'Given the above, no Code-based ground is engaged by the application, and the tribunal is without jurisdiction to hear this matter,' the decision said. 'The application is dismissed …' Read the full decision here.
National Post
03-06-2025
- General
- National Post
Peter Shawn Taylor: Standing up for urinals amid the gender-neutral washroom craze
The famous genderless washroom in the 1990s TV show Ally McBeal was a plot device meant for comedic purpose. These days it is no laughing matter. Across Canada, separate men's and women's restrooms are rapidly being replaced with unisex facilities. Article content Article content In Kitchener, Ont., recent renovations have left the 2,000 seat Centre in the Square, the city's premier music auditorium, with five multi-stall gender-neutral washrooms. These require men and women to line up together to access a series of individual stalls that each contain a toilet, paper dispenser and garbage can. Such an arrangement, which upends centuries of sex-separated bathrooms, brings with it plenty of double-takes, puzzled looks and awkward moments. (Including when I took my 89-year-old mother to the Nutcracker.) But it is by no means unique. Article content In Montreal, a new washroom at the Université de Montreal's student services building features a unique circular design with study rooms and couches meant to encourage users to linger all day. It also includes 12 individually-ventilated stalls with floor-to-ceiling doors, and a common area for washing up. Numerous public schools across B.C. have similarly done away with separate boys' and girls' washrooms. And the same is planned for the current renovation of Centre Block on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, the seat of Canada's democracy. Article content Article content While these bathroom changes have all been presented as bold steps forward for 'inclusivity,' there's one thing genderless washrooms lack. Amid current efforts to rid restrooms of any vestige of traditional male and female differences, the urinal — a uniquely male waste management device — is at risk of disappearing forever. It's time someone stood up for this unloved, overlooked and occasionally smelly necessity. Article content The current campaign against urinals finds its roots in efforts to solve the eternal dilemma of why the line at the ladies' room is always longer. Kathryn Anthony is a professor of architecture at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a well-known advocate for 'potty parity.' As Anthony explained in an interview, 'Potty parity means equal speed of access to public toilets for men and women. Women simply take longer to go due to our anatomy and the need to disrobe.' To this end, she has spent decades campaigning for larger women's washrooms to compensate for the extra time requirement. Article content More recently, however, the potty parity movement has made common cause with trans-gender activists who seek to eliminate any evidence of biological sex by promoting the concept of universal washrooms, which entail one bathroom line for all. And no urinals. 'As we see more and more unisex restrooms,' Anthony said, 'we will see fewer and fewer urinals. And not too many people are going to be sorry about that.' That remains to be seen.
