St. Albert will soon reach an inclusivity milestone with the construction of a gender-neutral washroom in St. Albert Place, according to a public council information request.
In 2020, the city applied for $100,000 through the federal government’s enabling accessibility fund to construct a gender-neutral washroom and add more power door operators to St. Albert Place. Since receiving approval in October of 2021, work on the washroom is planned for completion this year, the information request said.
In the meantime, the city has been consulting with the two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer plus (2SLGBTQ+) community and other stakeholders to plan the space. Outloud St. Albert, a local non-profit that offers support to LGBTQ youth, is one of the groups the city has consulted.
Kelsey Robbins, a community outreach worker for Outloud, said her organization has had “nothing but phenomenal, exciting thoughts” about the project.
“I would say 50 per cent of the kids we’re serving right now are members of the transgender community,” Robbins said. “A lot of time, for these kids, neither bathroom is safe, and it gets really complicated and uncomfortable.”
Robbins said the gender-neutral washroom will “add a whole new level of safety” for these youth when accessing St. Albert Place.
“I think it’s going to encourage these kiddos to actually come in to St. Albert Place more,” Robbins said.
In terms of the washroom’s features, Robbins said Outloud is most excited about plans for floor-to-ceiling bathroom stalls, as well as signage that will make it clear all genders can access the washroom.
“They’ve really thought it out well,” Robbins said of the city’s plans, noting she believes both young kids and their families will feel comfortable accessing the washroom.
The city declined The Gazette’s request for an interview about the project. Communications advisor Amy Nastase said an official announcement is underway.
When asked to provide background on what spurred the grant application, city spokesperson Cory Sinclair said in an email that in 2018, city administration completed a universal access plan which provides the city with a resource document to "implement accessibility within defined areas of the city's operations over the short, medium, and long term."
"The city actively looks for opportunities to augment municipal initiatives from grant funding sources on an ongoing basis," Sinclair said in the email.
Updates about the washroom were posted to the city’s website in response to an information request made by Coun. Natalie Joly, asking which “quick wins” from the Toolkit for Inclusive Municipalities have been implemented in St. Albert. The toolkit outlines six different action items for cities to pursue to further 2SLGBTQ+ inclusion, from using the correct pronouns to supporting employee resource groups.
Joly said she made the request to think about where the city needs to do better, particularly as council heads into its annual strategic planning session in March.
Though she hasn’t seen the plans for what the gender-neutral washroom facility will look like, Joly noted gender-neutral washrooms are “important to have in all public facilities.”
“I’m looking forward to a time when … it’s just taken for granted that public facilities are accessible,” Joly said. “I’m looking forward to when that’s completely expected in all facilities.”
While some St. Albert schools have had gender-neutral washrooms for years, Robbins said they’re not aware of additional gender-neutral washroom locations throughout St. Albert.
She noted Outloud itself is still working on getting gender-neutral washrooms for its building because it shares a location with a different agency. For the time being, Robbins said the non-profit tapes gender-neutral signs over the gendered signs when children accessing the organization are primarily using the space.
Robbins said now that St. Albert Place is making the change, other facilities located in St. Albert might follow suit.
“I think this will be the start of everybody realizing that it’s not actually that complicated,” Robbins said. “You will bring in more people if you have [gender-neutral washrooms] because bathrooms are a really big barrier to a lot of queer individuals.”
Planning for a gender-neutral washroom demonstrates that multiple perspectives are being accounted for and listened to at the city level, Robbins said.
“St. Albert gets crap sometimes for not being as advanced, but I think … there is opportunity for us to all be heard and for us to get what we need, and to make sure that these kids can go to the public library and feel comfortable to go to the bathroom,” Robbins said. “This is a really big deal to a lot of kids and families, and I think it’s amazing.”
