Over the course of this year, a group of聽social work grad students partnered with GottaGo! to reviewing the 聽availability, accessibility and quality of 92 city-owned and operated public toilets. The study revealed that:

“Almost half of the toilets surveyed (45 per cent) were unavailable, either due to seasonal or daily closures, even though the assessments were conducted during standard operating hours on weekdays and weekends.

And a majority of public toilets (63 per cent) that are deemed to be 鈥渨heelchair accessible鈥� pose at least one accessibility barrier to people with mobility challenges. Some didn鈥檛 have grab bars or toilets that were tall enough for people to easily transfer to and from their wheelchairs, while others have stall doors that aren鈥檛 equipped with an automatic door opener or push bar. The researchers concluded that these shortcomings reinforce the discrepancies that exist between bathrooms designated to be 鈥渨heelchair accessible鈥� and their actual functional accessibility for people using mobility devices.”

To find out more,聽

One of the Masters students involved in the study also participated in an interview with CBC on the issue on May 5, 2016. or !

Joan Kuyek, Chair of the GottaGo! Campaign. 漏Ottawa Sun

On March 31, 2016, released a piece updating readers on the progression of the GottaGo! campaign. One of the partners of CFICE’s Community Environmental Sustainability Hub, GottaGo! is an advocacy group campaigning for a network of public toilets in Ottawa. Back in October 2015, they were in the process of to include聽public toilets in the plans of two Light Rail Transit stations. And now, they have succeeded in working with the city to build a mobile-friendly map of the public toilets available in Ottawa. The map includes information聽about the hours during which the toilets are open, how accessible they are, and whether or not there’s access to baby changing tables.

Here’s a snippet from the article:

鈥淲e鈥檙e really excited,鈥� said Joan Kuyek, chair of the GottaGo! campaign. 鈥淚t gives us what we need in terms of knowing what鈥檚 in the city and knowing what else needs to happen to create a really good network. We didn鈥檛 have that before.鈥�

City council voted last September to compile and publish data about public washrooms so third-party web developers could create an app to map out the locations.

The city collected data on 190 washrooms in its own buildings and also noted such things as the availability of baby-changing tables, building hours of operation and level of accessibility. After translating the information into French, the city released the data in February.”

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Read the .

Ottawa is getting a little closer to relief.

鈥淲e鈥檝e won some very important victories in terms of toilets at Bayview and Hurdman,鈥� says Joan Kuyek, chair of

GottaGo!, an advocacy group campaigning for a network of public toilets in Ottawa, has lobbied to the city to implement public toilets in the plans of two LRT stations.

The group made its official launch two years ago on November 19^th,, coincidentally also World Toilet Day. Ever since, the group has been working hard to create awareness and get support to make accessible public toilets in Ottawa a reality.

With the help of Community First: Impacts of Community Engagement (CFICE), a SSHRC-funded research project aimed at strengthening Canadian communities, GottaGo! brought forward a motion to include public washrooms in phase two of the LRT plan.

CFICE funded two 杏吧原创 University undergraduate students to help with the campaign 鈥� Rachel Canham and Sarah Good.

Canham, a 2^nd year environmental studies and physical geography student at the time, created a 聽entitled 鈥淭alking Toilets: Assessing the accessibility of public toilet provision in Ottawa, Ontario.鈥� The report highlighted how public toilets impact the lives of all Ottawans, especially those most vulnerable. It was presented to council to spur discussion about the lack of Ottawa鈥檚 public toilets.

鈥淲e were able to use (the report) for our big press conference last September. It really had a lot of impact,鈥� says Kuyek.

Joan Kuyek, left, and Rachel Canham, right, at the GottaGo! press release in September 2014 unveiling Canham’s report. Photo credit: Patricia Ballamingie.

Canham reflects on her experiences with the campaign.

鈥淥ne of the key issues and questions I asked participants was about the new LRT system not having any public bathrooms. At the time, there were no plans to build any public bathrooms. That got a lot of attention and it ended up being one of the main focuses of my report,鈥� she says.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a really good thing to incorporate students into the community action. It was really an eye opening experience for me.鈥�

Some of Canham鈥檚 interview participants for the report included disabled people, mothers with children, people with irritable bowel syndrome and homeless people.

鈥淚 spoke to a number of homeless people and there were a lot of stories that they weren鈥檛 able to enter public bathrooms because they were shunned, which draws attention to the fact that there aren鈥檛 true public bathrooms that are available to everyone in the City of Ottawa,鈥� she says.

While Canham focused on how future toilets would improve the lives of Ottawa citizens, Good focused on the existing public toilets in Ottawa.

Good, a 4^th year geography and geomatics student at the time, mapped all the GPS coordinates for the city鈥檚 municipally funded toilets. Her findings showed a gap between public toilets locations in the city.

鈥淚 was able to identify some places where there were visible gaps, in particular Centretown especially near MacDonald Park. (This) was one of the areas (GottaGo! was) pushing to get a public washroom installed because there was a lack of any kind of public washroom around there,鈥� Good says.

鈥淚 think the mapping helped the campaign because it put a good visual to where the gaps really lie. The map shows where the gaps are and it kind of forces the city to do something with it.鈥�

A map of current public toilets in Ottawa that Sarah Good helped create. Source: GottaGo!

Kuyek says the contribution from the CFICE students was instrumental for their campaign.

鈥淲e were able to go to the City Information Technology Committee with (Good鈥檚) information and persuade them we need more toilets,鈥� she says. 鈥淏oth (Canham and Good) had a huge impact on the campaign in terms of what we were trying to do.鈥�

Bessa Whitmore, member of the core GottaGo! team and professor emerita at 杏吧原创 University鈥檚 School of Social Work, agrees with Kuyek.

鈥淲e really appreciate the support that we鈥檙e getting from students from CFICE and other students. This is free work for us, but we wouldn鈥檛 be able to do what we鈥檝e done without those students.鈥�

Patricia Ballamingie, academic co-lead of CFICE鈥檚 Community Environmental Sustainability Hub, says the benefit went both ways.

鈥淭he opportunity for these students to conduct applied research, to help those most vulnerable access public space, anchors academic concepts like the right to the city,鈥� Ballamingie says. 鈥淲e cannot talk about sustainable community without also considering social justice, and Rachel and Sarah understand this in a meaningful way.鈥�

With Canham鈥檚 report, the GottaGo! team presented their motion to implement toilets in the LRT stations to council early July for a vote.

鈥淭o our delight and surprise, it was unanimous,鈥� Whitmore says.

Canham was also surprised.

鈥淚t鈥檚 what the people wanted and there was actual change. It鈥檚 really exciting.鈥�

Ottawa city staff working on the LRT phase two plan were instructed to include public toilets in the designs for Bayview and Hurdman stations.

鈥淲e鈥檙e going to be watching very closely to make sure that they actually follow up,鈥� Whitmore says.

GottaGo! hopes to partner with the city on developing a 鈥渨here to go鈥� app that would show users the locations of Ottawa鈥檚 public toilets, their hours of operation and whether or not they鈥檙e accessible.

Kuyek thinks the app will help show the city there aren鈥檛 enough toilets.

鈥淲e think (the app) will enable us to find out which toilets are actually open and accessible. The city seems to think that when they get the app up, they鈥檒l discover that we won鈥檛 need very many toilets because there would be so many,鈥� Kuyek says. 鈥淲e actually think the opposite is true.鈥�

A group of Master of Social Work students from 杏吧原创 University will be conducting a 鈥済round truthing鈥� of the public toilets this winter. They will be looking for accessibility, hours of operation and if the toilet is actually open in the winter. Whitmore expects many of them will only be open during programming hours in the summer and not operational in the winter.

Kuyek plans to gain more support with World Toilet Day events on November 14^th. GottaGo! will be having a rain or shine gathering from 12-2pm at Dundonald Park in Centretown. The public is welcome to attend for an afternoon of entertainment and dancing.