To many adults it’s a taboo subject or else a laughable one: the bathroom. But an Ottawa group is fighting to make the discussion public, bringing more, cleaner public bathrooms to the city, starting with Centretown’s own Dundonald Park.
The GottaGo! campaign, launched last November, has recently teamed up with the Dundonald Park Working Group and other Ottawa groups to push for a public toilet in the century-old park, naming the initiative Toilets Please for Dundonald Park.
“We actually think public toilets are a public service and they should be there,” said Joan Kuyek, chair of the citizen-led GottaGo! campaign, at a community meeting held on Oct. 9. “We think it’s shameful that they aren’t.”
Clean, accessible bathrooms are “an issue for everyone,” Kuyek says, but she says they are especially important for seniors, people living with disabilities or digestive issues like Crohn’s Disease, parents of small children and the homeless population.
“For me, the sign of a healthy society is how you treat your young, your old and your vulnerable,” said Kristina Ropke at the meeting.
“These are things that should be, really, addressed by the City of Ottawa.”
The movement is still in its infancy and no firm plans have been made for what the bathroom would look like or where it would go. Kuyek is clear, however, that the community will be involved in the process.
“What we’re doing is suggesting a number of options for it, and those have to be things that are acceptable to the community and to the local businesses and to the city,” she says.
Some residents have voiced concerns the bathroom would be abused — as a place to sleep or to conduct illicit activity. The Ottawa Police Service, however, has so far been supportive.
“It is a place that could be abused, for sure, like anything else,” says Const. Matt Hunt, community police officer for Centretown and the Glebe. But, he adds: “I think it’s certainly worth a try.”
Concerns about possible problems, Kuyek says, can be handled: surveillance, sensors and self-cleaning systems can all serve as deterrents, along with good lighting and a well-chosen location.
At this early stage of planning, Kuyek says it’s impossible to say how much the bathroom would cost or where funding would come from. GottaGo! and Somerset West Community Health Centre have applied together for funding from the Community Foundation of Ottawa for organizing the campaign, but more funding would need to come forward from the city and from the private sector.
These decisions will be made over the course of a process that Kuyek acknowledges “won’t happen quickly,” with a prototype bathroom not likely to be developed until the fall of 2015.
Despite the blush-worthy nature of the initiative, Ropke says she thinks Centretown — and Ottawa as a whole — needs to have a serious discussion about the issue.
“Ottawa wants to be a world-class city?” she says. “Act like one.”