City adds public toilets to more Brampton parks
Published February 3, 2022 at 1:19 pm
Brampton City Councillors are looking to make parks more accessible and improve sanitation by adding public toilets across the city.
Several parks in Brampton already have “port-o-lets” which are rented out by a third-party provider, but a motion by City Councillor Harkirat Singh and seconded by Regional Councillor Gurpreet Dhillon is aiming to expand the number of lavatories.
The one-time pilot project could see portable washrooms added to James and Margaret McGie Park, Mount Royal Park, Jacksonville Park, Gordon Randle Park, Fairlawn Park, Kanishiro Park, Thorndale Park and Dr. Jose P. Rizal Park.
The motion passed unanimously during Wednesday’s Committee of Council meeting, and an amendment was added to the motion to add bathrooms to other Brampton parks as required.
Coun. Paul Vicente said he’s heard from residents and seniors groups expressing a desire for more accessible bathrooms as well as baby changing stations.
And with outdoor amenities getting more use during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dhillon said lack of access to public washrooms has become “almost a human rights issue,” and said increasing the number of port-o-lets “will be extremely beneficial for the health and wellbeing of our seniors.”
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“For seniors in particular, it’s the one place they get to go and really meet one another,” Dhillon said of city parks.
Singh said tackling the public bathroom issues has been years in the making following incidents of residents and seniors relieving themselves in parks when no bathrooms are available.
City staff said each prot-o-let is rented from a third party and costs the city approximately $70-$80 per month.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the current units across Brampton are being cleaned three times a week which has increased costs.
The pilot project will run through 2022.
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