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Edmonton’s approach to creating safe, inclusive public washrooms

This case study is part of the 2023 Canadian City Parks Report, showcasing Inspiring projects, people, and policies from across Canada that offer tangible solutions to the most pressing challenges facing city parks.

Summary

  • Edmonton’s washroom attendant program hires people with employment barriers through a local social enterprise to monitor and maintain public washrooms.
  • Outcomes of the attendant program include improved safety and cleanliness, reduced washroom repair costs, fewer overdoses, and creation of new job opportunities.
  • In 2023, Edmonton launched a new grant for community organizations and businesses to expand washroom access, with priority given to areas with significant park programming.

Public washrooms are a park necessity. Indeed, in our public survey, year-round public washrooms were the top amenity respondents said they would like to see more of in parks. They are also an essential part of a human rights approach to park design—an increasingly important lens as many cities continue to grapple with a houselessness crisis.

But ensuring washrooms are accessible, safe, and well-maintained is a challenge for many cities.

Out of order sign on a washroom door
Credit: Rebecca Pinkus

In Edmonton, the city is tackling these challenges head-on through experimenting with creative approaches to enhance washroom provision, safety, and upkeep.

One of the city’s most successful initiatives is the washroom attendant program, which sees staff hired to monitor and maintain public washrooms in locations with significant safety concerns. Staff are hired in partnership with Hiregood, a local social enterprise that provides employment opportunities to those who have lived experience of houselessness and poverty and may face barriers in the job market.

First launched as a 3-month pilot in December 2019, the program has since expanded from 3 to 12 sites, employing approximately 100 full-time and part-time staff. While the first locations were in parks and public spaces, the attendant program now operates in select Edmonton libraries and transit stations as well.

“We had some washrooms that you’d be scared to go and use. But now, because you have folks monitoring and supervising the washroom, there’s been a remarkable improvement in terms of safety and cleanliness.”

Samson Awopeju, Program Manager of the Public Washrooms Strategy at the City of Edmonton.

In addition to washroom maintenance, attendants are trained in de-escalation and equipped with harm reduction supplies. There have been fewer overdoses at sites with attendants, Awopeju noted, and in some locations the overall improvement in safety has been so marked that there is reduced police presence in the area.

Another unexpected benefit of the program was that Edmonton was able to keep its washrooms open during the early days of the pandemic, when many cities were shutting their doors.

These benefits have inspired Calgary to launch its own version modeled after Edmonton’s, with washroom attendants currently being piloted in two downtown parks.

In addition to making existing washrooms more inviting through the attendant program, the city is also testing creative approaches to expand washroom access across the city.

This year, Edmonton launched a new granting program for non-profits and businesses to expand washroom access. The $5000 grants, many of which were awarded to community leagues that operate park programming, can be used to install portable toilets or cover increased maintenance costs for businesses that open their washrooms to the broader public beyond paying customers.

“It’s just financially not possible to put washrooms everywhere. And in such locations, that’s where we want to encourage businesses or community organizations to help.”

Samson Awopeju, Program Manager of the Public Washrooms Strategy at the City of Edmonton.

All of these initiatives feed into the city’s forthcoming Public Washroom Strategy, set to be released in early 2024. The strategy will include demographic mapping to help identify areas in the city where washroom investments should be prioritized.

The goal, as Awopeju puts it, is “to make sure that everybody has access to washrooms, regardless of who you are.”

Recommendations

  • Hire washroom attendants, ideally in partnership with a local social enterprise, as a way to improve washroom safety and upkeep while also providing employment opportunities to equity-deserving groups.
  • Develop a citywide public washroom strategy that incorporates demographic mapping to make informed decisions about where to prioritize investing in washroom facilities and staffing.
  • Consider a granting program for community organizations and businesses to fill strategic gaps in the city’s public washroom network, particularly in areas with a high volume of park programming.

Indigenous Storytelling & Ravine Ecology

In this webinar, storyteller Hillary Clermont, historian and artist Philip Cote, and Indigenous grower Isaac Crosby connect Toronto’s Indigenous history to current Indigenous-led ecology work, to help understand how we can deepen our connection to the plants and animals of our land and ravines.

The webinar is held in English; French subtitles are available.

Change, Hope, and Tension: Perspectives and Practices on Making Green Spaces BIPOC Inclusive

A Candid Conversation in Celebration of Park People’s 10 Year Anniversary

This webinar explores the barriers and opportunities for creating parks as natural places for engagement across differences.

*The webinar title comes from Jay Pitter, an award-winning placemaker whose practice mitigates growing divides in cities across North America.

The session is held in English; French subtitles are available.

Panel

Carolynne Crawley
Founder Msit No’kmaq

Carolynne Crawley is a Mi’kmaw woman with mixed ancestry from the East Coast. She is dedicated to social and environmental…

Panelist
Ambika Tenetti
Ph.D. candidate, University of Toronto

Ambika is a Ph.D. candidate at the Daniels Faculty, University of Toronto. Her research is focused on recent immigrant engagement…

Panelist
Chúk Odenigbo
Founding Director of Ancestral Services, Future Ancestors Services

Proudly Franco-Albertan, Chúk’s passion lies in the interactions between culture, health and the environment. Outside of this work with Future…

Moderator
Zahra Ebrahim
CEO and Founder of Monumental, and Member of Park People’s Board of Directors

Zahra is a public interest designer and strategist focused on shifting power to people who are typically underrepresented in institutions…

At Park People, we believe parks are vital to the health of Canada’s cities and our environment, and everyone—regardless of their income, identity, ability, or age—deserves equal access to the benefits of public green space.

Yet not everyone experiences parks in the same way. Systemic racism and white supremacy are prevalent and visible in our parks and public spaces where Black, Indigenous and racialized people experience suspicion, surveillance, harassment, and violence.

Our Canadian City Parks Report found Black, Indigenous, and people of colour were far more likely to report that concerns about policing, ticketing, and social judgment prevented them from visiting parks as much as they’d like. 

It’s clear we must do more to address the reality that in their current form, Canada’s parks are not for everyone.  

Park People is actively working with communities across Canada to disrupt and dismantle the implicit and explicit structures of power, privilege, and racism in parks and public spaces. 

Here are some useful reports, articles, toolkits, and webinars that we’re reviewing to better educate ourselves in this work. We hope you’ll join us.

Racism in Canada is Ever-Present, But We Have a Long History of Denial, Maija Kappler, May 2020

  • Kappler confronts what she describes as Canada’s “angel complex” in comparing ourselves more favourably against the anti-Black racism that exists in the United States. She documents the long history of anti-Black racism in Canada and its contemporary expression, and also links it with our prevalent anti-Indigenous racism. 

Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present, Robyn Maynard, 2017.

  • Through in-depth research, Maynard traces the roots of present day anti-Black racism, surveillance, and policing to Canada’s 200-year history of slavery. She writes of how “both historically and in the present, policing Blackness occurs alongside and as a part of the policing of Canada’s Indigenous communities,” as a way of upholding “the aims of settler colonialism.”

Subdivided, Ed. Jay Pitter and John Lorinc. 2016.

  • Through essays from a variety of voices, Subdivided challenges us to move beyond mottos like Toronto’s “diversity is our strength” to meaningfully integrate anti-racist and urban justice work into how we build our cities. While the book centres on the Greater Toronto Area, its essays on subjects such as policing, arts, housing, mental health, and public space are relevant across Canada.

Why Race Matters in Planning Public Parks, Brentin Mock, March 2016

  • Mock writes about how the tendency to privilege white voices in public consultation perpetuates inequities in how parks are planned and designed. He shares a study of a Houston parks planning process that specifically engaged Black and Latino communities, and argues that cities “need to be inclusive of voices typically under-represented in planning processes, namely those of racial minorities and low-income populations.”

Public Space, Park Space, and Racialized Space, KangJae Lee, January 2020

  • Lee writes about the social construction of parks as “white spaces.” When public spaces are “conceptualized, built, and managed by upper- and middle-class white males,” he writes, “the presence of people of color can be perceived as out of the ordinary, dangerous, or criminal.” 

Placemaking When Black Lives Matter, Annette Koh, April 2017

  • In calling for a “politics of placemaking”, Koh urges public space professionals to engage deeper with systemic racial and class inequities. Discussing Jane Jacobs’ notion that neighbourhoods need “eyes on the street”, Koh writes, “we should ask ourselves if those eyes are attached to a person socialized to see non-white people as inherently dangerous.” 

Being Black in Public, Jay Pitter, November 2024

  • How can municipalities move from awareness to action? The BEING BLACK IN PUBLIC SURVEY is a bi-national survey—developed by Jay Pitter Placemaking and administered by the Institute for Social Research—which examined the public space policies, design approaches and unspoken social attitudes that both diminish and enhance Black peoples’ experiences when navigating cities. 

Parks Need Leaders of Colour, Park People, July 2021

  • In this story from our Canadian City Parks Report, we share research, quotes, and policy examples of how people working in parks and public space are responding to grassroots racial justice movements that call for the elimination of power imbalances in park design and operations and the right to exist, and thrive, in public space.

Urban Parks and Forests Are Missing in Racialized and Marginalized Neighbourhoods, Nature Canada, March 2022

  • A summary of Nature Canada’s research which suggest we consider three interrelated dimensions of equity for racialized and low-income communities when expanding urban parks and green spaces: the proximity of parks and green spaces, the quality of these spaces, and increasing the voice and power of racialized and marginalized communities in governance and the planning and managing urban parks and forests.

Place Driving Equity, Reimagining the Civic Commons, November 2021

  • An evidence-based action guide on the role of public space for shared prosperity, compiled from the discussions of a multi-city working group of practitioners and thought leaders. It features research, policy recommendations and actions that can advance more equitable communities through investments in public space.

A renewed attention on environmental equity and justice, National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health, December 2022.

  • This webinar discusses the development and implementation of HealthyPlan.City, a tool that allows environmental health professionals, policymakers, planners, and advocacy groups alike to explore where environmental inequities are occurring in cities across Canada.

Five Ways Urban Planners Are Addressing a Legacy of Inequity, Jon Gorey, May 2023

  • The urban planning profession has directly contributed to the systemic racism and segregation that plague US cities. In this blog from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Gorey spotlights urban planners who are trying to atone for that legacy through tangible strategies with the goal of creating inclusive, equitable communities.

Race and Nature in the City Engaging Youth of Colour in Nature-Based Activities, Jacqueline L. Scott & Ambika Tenneti, April 2021

  • An in-depth, community-informed needs assessment of youth of colour in the Greater Toronto Area led to these tangible recommendations for meaningfully engaging racialized communities in nature and nature-based programming in urban areas.

How the City of North Vancouver is addressing the inclusion gap in park stewardship programs

This case study is part of the 2023 Canadian City Parks Report, showcasing Inspiring projects, people, and policies from across Canada that offer tangible solutions to the most pressing challenges facing city parks.

Summary

  • The City of North Vancouver is working to better engage equity-deserving groups in its longstanding Park Stewards program, including people who are underhoused, newcomers, and at-risk youth.
  • Outreach strategies include building partnerships with local community organizations, organizing stewardship events tailored to specific groups, and conducting participant exit interviews with honoraria.
  • Steps taken to address barriers include providing free bus passes to stewardship events, arranging for staff to travel with participants to events, and conducting regular in-person outreach visits to partner organizations.

In Park People’s recent survey of stewardship program participants in large urban parks, 97% said stewardship contributes to their mental well-being, and 90% to their physical health. Yet, our survey also hinted at critical gaps in who has access to these benefits, with participants disproportionately identifying as cis-gendered women, able-bodied and white.

Two people dealing with invasive plant in a lake, with building in the background
Park stewardship program, Stanley Park, Vancouver, Stanley Park Ecology Society

In North Vancouver, the city was noticing similar gaps in its City Park Stewards program—a city-led initiative established in 2001 that offers monthly volunteer events where residents can engage in activities like invasive pulls, native plantings, and educational workshops. To help reach under-represented groups, the city applied for a $5000 grant from BC Healthy Communities intended to support upstream health benefits in the community.

“We applied with the idea that we could enhance community cohesion and sense of belonging through the park stewardship program by increasing inclusivity and diversity.”

Anu Garcha, Planning Assistant at the City of North Vancouver

When the grant was successful, the city began outreach to partner organizations that serve diverse populations including underhoused communities, newcomers, and at-risk youth, as well as promoting through other city programs like English classes at the public library.

“Building these relationships is very important because it helps us connect with different people in the community.”

Anu Garcha

At the end of the events, city staff invite participants to share feedback about their experience in a voluntary exit interview. The interview includes prompts about whether participants felt welcome and included, the impact of the events on their sense of connection to others and the environment, and ideas for improvement. Importantly, interview participants are offered honoraria in recognition of their time and insights.

Participants have shared many benefits from the program, including discovering new green spaces, learning more about local ecology, and making new friends.

City staff are taking direction from the interviews to continue maximizing these benefits, said Angela Negenman, Environmental Coordinator at the City of North Vancouver.

A woman removing invasive plants
Park stewardship program, Lost Lagoon in Stanley Park, Vancouver

“For those experiencing homelessness, maybe this is something that could give them an edge to get a landscaping job, right? If we are able to figure out what those things are through this process, we’ll be able to improve the program.”

Angela Negenman, Environmental Coordinator at the City of North Vancouver

The conversations have also unearthed important barriers. For example, city staff learned that getting to the events can be a challenge—not just in terms of accessing transportation, but also feeling comfortable venturing to new parts of the city. In response, the city has provided free bus passes to participants, and when possible, a staff member from the partner organization accompanies participants to the park.

“I wouldn’t have thought of [these barriers] if they hadn’t been shared with us. It’s definitely eye-opening.”

Angela Negenman

The city held a community meeting with residents who selected a smaller 10,000 square foot space in the park to be a programmed pollinator habitat, which would be stewarded by the community group Cianchino created with ongoing support from the city. In the future Cianchino said she wants to implement a QR code system in locations identified for potential naturalization asking residents to let the city know how they currently use the space.

Supporting community stewards will be a key part of the project’s ongoing success. Working with volunteers, Cianchino led the group’s first “bio blitz,” where residents measure the number of pollinators before the planting of native species this fall. Cianchino also works with the group to discuss what people can do in their own yards to support naturalization efforts. The core of the Eco Park Strategy, she said, is a series of linked habitats and green corridors,

“and you can’t just do that through public land. It’s critical that we educate landowners and help them build capacity to naturalize their spaces in a manner that works for them.”

Karley Cianchino, City of Brampton Environmental Project Specialist

Another learning is that outreach is more effective ‘offline,’ through posters and in-person visits, and must be ongoing, as there is high turnover at many of these organizations. For example, participants from a local shelter are often only there for short-term stays.

It’s not just participants who benefit from the park stewards program. For the city, the program is important in educating the public, building ongoing stewardship habits, and restoring degraded natural areas.

Another unexpected benefit is a morale boost for parks staff. Negenman noted that for operations staff involved with the program, engaging directly with the community and seeing public education in action “just gives them a different perspective on the work.”

These are benefits that Negenman knows firsthand, too: “it’s definitely inspiring, it fills my bucket.”

Recommendations

  • Create a welcoming entry point for people who are new to stewardship by hosting a custom kick-off event in partnership with a local organization that serves the community you are trying to reach.
  • Conduct interviews with stewardship participants from equity-deserving communities as a way to build relationships and better understand potential barriers, being sure to offer honoraria.
  • Commit to ongoing, in-person outreach visits to community partner organizations, recognizing that there is often frequent turnover in the people these organizations serve.

At Park People, we believe that parks can play a vital role in reconciliation and decolonization. 

We’re inspired by park projects across the country that are focused on rebuilding trust, sharing knowledge and developing true partnerships between First Nations and settlers, such as The City of Quesnel, BC, which restored ownership of Tingley Park to the Lhtako Dene First Nation, or the agreement between the Tsleil-Waututh Nation and Metro Vancouver Regional Parks.

As a national city parks organization, Park People recognizes that when we speak of municipal parks and public land, we are obscuring the fact that, in most cases, the land that we are speaking of is traditional Indigenous territory. That’s why we share our land acknowledgement on our website and at all Park People events.

As part of our own journey, we want to share some insights from our process developing our land acknowledgement.

Do Your Research

It’s essential that your park group undertake thoughtful research to learn about Indigenous issues globally, nationally, and in your city or region.

Find out which territories your park is situated on and the treaties or covenants that were meant to peaceably govern that land. Use nativeland.ca as a starting point.

You may find conflicting accounts of territorial land rights. Reach out to a local band office, municipal Indigenous Affairs Office, an Indigenous Friendship Centre, or an Indigenous university group to understand the history and rights associated with the land in question.

Discuss Your Learning

Set aside time for your group to discuss your land acknowledgement plan and your broader reconciliation goals.

Create space for members to share meaningful land acknowledgements they’ve heard at other events, literature they’ve read, and news and ideas. This will help create a dialogue to shape your groups’ perspective and commitment. These conversations will also help you to identify champions within your group who can help guide future reconciliation efforts.

Write Your Unique Acknowledgement

Reading a generic land acknowledgement that you don’t understand or feel connected won’t further the goals of truth and reconciliation. Work with your group to write an acknowledgement that reflects the unique history and contemporary character of your park.

Consider how your land acknowledgement can leave listeners with something informative and provocative to ruminate on, long after your event has finished.

Make a Clear Commitment

Writing a land acknowledgement is an opportunity for your group to publicly declare its commitment to working towards allyship and working to dismantle the colonial systems that continue to oppress Indigenous peoples, denying their land-rights and way of life.

Add a commitment to the land acknowledgement that articulates how your group is going to put words into action. Find tangible ways your group can impact this complex and ongoing work.

Seek counsel

Once you feel like you have done your research and written a meaningful land acknowledgement, consider sharing it with a respected member of your local Indigenous community to get their feedback.

Be respectful of their time, and don’t expect accolades for this preliminary effort. Use the opportunity to express your willingness to engage with the local Indigenous community on the subject of decolonization.

Bring in Indigenous voices

Consider inviting Indigenous-led organizations to attend and participate in your group’s events and gatherings whenever appropriate. 

Plan in advance how to compensate those who participate by sharing their time, expertise and knowledge.



Make use of these great resources in the next steps of your journey towards decolonizing your park work

Ravines and Resilience – Toronto’s Ravines and Climate Change

Our city and our ravines were shaped by past extreme weather events. Looking ahead, our ravines can help us be more climate-resilient. But first, we need to protect them.

In this webinar, David MacLeod, Senior Environmental Specialist with the City of Toronto, and Carbon Conversations TO explore how these natural spaces can mitigate climate impacts and the steps we must take to protect them.

The webinar is held in English; French subtitles are available.

7 Questions: Perspectives on the future of parks and public spaces – A webinar series

Explore the relationship between public space, race, and systems of oppression in the public realm.

This webinar was inspired by urbanist and placemaker Jay Pitter.

It is held in English; French subtitles are available.

Panel

Panelist
Guillermo (Gil) Penalosa
He/him Founder and Chair of 880 Cities

Gil (Guillermo) Penalosa is passionate about creating cities for all people; vibrant cities and healthy communities for everyone regardless of…

Panéliste
Tamika L. Butler
Founder of Tamika L. Butler Consulting

Tamika L. Butler is a national expert and speaker on issues related to building environment, equity, anti-racism, diversity and inclusion,…

Panelist
Chúk Odenigbo
Founding Director of Ancestral Services, Future Ancestors Services

Proudly Franco-Albertan, Chúk’s passion lies in the interactions between culture, health and the environment. Outside of this work with Future…

Moderator
Zahra Ebrahim
CEO and Founder of Monumental, and Member of Park People’s Board of Directors

Zahra is a public interest designer and strategist focused on shifting power to people who are typically underrepresented in institutions…

Bridging the Gap: How the park sector can meet today’s complex challenges through collaborations and partnerships

Park People is excited to launch the 2024 Canadian City Parks Report, our sixth annual edition highlighting the most significant trends, issues, and practices shaping Canada’s city parks. 

Watch our special launch webinar to explore our findings:

  • 6 key insights from interviews with park staff and specialists,
  • 9 case studies showcasing inspiring people, projects, and policies from across Canada,
  • Data from surveys of 35 municipalities and over 2,500 residents.

The webinar features an engaging discussion on the future of city parks, with guest speakers from the City of Victoria and Greenspace Alliance. They share opportunities and challenges in their work around collaborations and partnerships, across city departments, communities, non-profits, and more.

Recording

Panel

Panelist
Adri Stark
she/her Research and Policy Consultant, Park People

Adri Stark is specialized in research and policy at Park People, and co-author of the annual Canadian City Parks Report.…

Moderator
Joy Sammy
she/her Research and Partnerships Manager, Park People

Joy is the Manager of Research and Partnerships at Park People and facilitates national research and network engagement that supports…

Panelist
Julia Ford
she/her Food Systems Coordinator, Recreation Department, City of Victoria

Julia is the Food Systems Coordinator for the City of Victoria. She comes to the role after over 15 years…

Panelist
Nicole Desroches
She/her Vice Chair Board of Directors, Greenspace Alliance

Nicole DesRoches, born in Ottawa and living in Chelsea Québec, part of the National Capital Region, therefore living within the…

Today Park People launches the sixth Canadian City Parks Report–and the final iteration of this report in its current form: Bridging the Gap: How the park sector can meet today’s complex challenges through partnerships and collaboration.

Last year, we dove deep into the minds of park managers across the country, interviewing over 44 senior parks staff across 30 municipalities about the trends and challenges in the industry. One of the key insights from that process was a need to find collaboration sweet spots to achieve our many collective parks goals. 

This year’s report expands on that insight by showcasing collaborative examples from across the country and through collecting data from 35 Canadian municipalities, over 2,500 residents of Canadian cities, as well as interviews with park staff and professionals.

Key Insights

Through that process we found six key insights related to collaborations and partnerships:

  • Park budgets are not keeping pace with need.
    • Years of insufficient parks operations budgets are challenging city parks departments and coinciding with a slip in resident satisfaction.
    • 78% of cities said insufficient budgets meant inadequate staffing levels, while 75% said it meant delays in park projects or planning.
  • Residents feel disempowered, but want to engage.
    • While residents want to get more involved in parks, city parks departments struggle with limited resources to provide opportunities for long-term engagement. 
    • 83% of cities said that with limited resources it can be difficult to conduct ongoing, proactive community engagement beyond standard consultation on park projects.
  • Mental and physical health benefits are key, but lack proactive programs.
    • Mental and physical health are the top benefits of park use for residents, presenting a big opportunity for cities to further these impacts with specific programs. 
    • 95% and 93% of residents believe parks play a positive role in their physical and mental health, respectively.
  • Departmental structures can promote collaboration–or disconnection.
    • A minority of cities structure their parks departments with operations and design together, potentially leading to gaps between what gets built and how it gets maintained.
    • Nearly ⅓ of cities said their organizational structure makes it difficult for parks staff to collaborate with other divisions/departments. 
  • Partnerships are critical, but cities need policies and structures.
    • City parks departments recognize the benefit of partnerships, but struggle with the policies and procedures to navigate them with ease. 
    • 61% of cities said a barrier to partnerships with nonprofits was an inability to meet municipal standards.
  • Growing park issues require more training and collaborations.
    • There are big issues facing parks and residents want to see cities act, but to do so park staff need more training and collaborations with other city departments.
    • 92% of cities agreed that in recent years parks departments are facing increased pressure to address issues beyond “traditional” parks issues.

In this report you’ll find:

  • A roundup and analysis of the latest park data showcasing trends and challenges  from our surveys of over 2,500 Canadian residents and 35 municipalities across Canada–our most ever surveyed.
  • A library of nine case studies from across the country featuring inspiring projects that provide tangible recommendations for how to spur action in your own city. 
  • A listing of 35 City Profiles with the latest data from parkland provision goals, to parks amenities, to budgets.

Launch Webinar

For those eager to dive deeper into the report’s contents, join us for the report launch webinar featuring a lively discussion on the report’s key findings and future directions for city parks.  This hour-long webinar will take place on Wednesday, November 27th, at 3:00 PM ET.