Quebec schools must have designated boys and girls bathrooms: education minister
Quebec Education Minister Bernard Drainville said on Wednesday that individual universal or gender-neutral bathrooms are allowed in schools and will be planned for, as long as there are also designated boys and girls options.
Drainville made the announcement in a news scrum ahead of the Quebec committee on gender identity's report and recommendations.
"It's a decision that's well-balanced," said Drainville. "It's a decision that aims at creating environments that are safe, that create a sense of well-being, a sense of intimacy.
"These are the values or these are the principles that we've founded the decision upon and we think it's well-balanced because you have [sanitary units] for boys and for girls, for men and women, and we're going to have individual toilets for universal use that are going to be mixed."
According to the Quebec Official Gazette, "school service centres must ensure that individual, universal and accessible toilets are available for students who need or wish to use them. These facilities must be appropriate, safe and strategically located for adequate supervision, such as in a common circulation area."
New policy is discriminatory: trans activist
Celeste Trianon is the director of Juste Trans, a legal clinic supporting trans and non-binary people across Quebec.
She finds the new policy, which only allows for solo mixed-used bathrooms, discriminatory.
"It's basically a regime of separate but equal against trans and non-binary students and really anyone who would not feel safe using a gendered washroom. This directive does not respond to any problems. It does not respond to the fact that there are assaults, sexual assaults, and so much more happening in school bathrooms," she said.
She said the policy creates more problems for trans and non-binary students without making bathrooms any safer. She is organizing a protest on May 10 against the directive.
Quebec's advisory council on gender identity will make its recommendations in December, but Drainville said he made a commitment before the committee was formed and wanted to stand by that.
"We're living up to our word, and we're respecting the commitment we made," he said.
He said that 11 per cent of washrooms in schools are mixed already and that the level will be maintained.
"For the schools where there are mixed washrooms, yes, they will be maintained because we're not going to start demolishing schools for that," he said. "This is a pragmatic decision, so we're not going to start undertaking major repairs for that."
Schools at beginning planning stages will need to follow mandate
For those schools that are in the planning stage, if they are less than 30 per cent in progress, the plans will be altered to have boys, girls and individual universal washrooms.
Those beyond 30 per cent planned will continue to be built without change.
"Our conviction is that these spaces need to be preserved because it's a question of well-being, it's a question of intimacy, it's a question of privacy and this is our position," said Drainville. "We're sticking by it and we're very proud of it."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING 122 active wildfires burning across Canada, 32 considered 'out of control'
The 2024 wildfire season has begun, and it's shaping up to follow last year's unprecedented destruction in kind, with thousands of square kilometres already consumed.
B.C. parents sentenced to 15 years for death of 6-year-old boy
A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has sentenced the mother and stepfather of a six-year-old boy who died from blunt-force trauma in 2018 to 15 years in prison.
Veteran TSN sportscaster Darren Dutchyshen has died
Veteran TSN broadcaster Darren 'Dutch' Dutchyshen, one of Canada’s best-known sports journalists, has died. He was 57. His family says 'he passed as he was surrounded by his closest loved ones.'
Miller scores late as Canucks grind out 3-2 win over Oilers in Game 5
J.T. Miller scored in the final minute of the game and the Vancouver Canucks came back for a 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 5 of their second-round playoff series Thursday.
Think twice before sharing 'heartbreaking' social media posts, RCMP warn
Mounties in B.C. are urging people to think twice before sharing "heartbreaking posts" on social media.
Police issue Canada-wide warrant for Regina homicide suspect
Police have issued a Canada-wide warrant for a man wanted in a homicide which occurred in Regina on May 12.
Trudeau calls New Brunswick's Conservative government a 'disgrace' on women's rights
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau assailed New Brunswick's premier and other conservative leaders on Thursday, calling out the provincial government's position on abortion, LGBTQ youth and climate change.
Kevin Spacey receives star support as he fights to get his career back
Kevin Spacey is pushing back on the 'rush to judgment' against him and is being backed by some big names as he seeks to reclaim his acting career.
Speaker cuts ties with Sask. Party, alleges he faced threats, harassment from gov't MLAs
The Speaker of the Saskatchewan Legislature Randy Weekes has severed ties with the Sask. Party after accusing some members of harassment and intimidation tactics, including a situation he claimed saw the Government House Leader bring a hunting rifle to the legislative building.