After seeing his human rights complaint against the City of Greater Sudbury thrown out, community advocate Holland Marshall said he’s disappointed but not surprised.
Marshall’s complaint claimed that the city’s homeless community is being discriminated against due to a lack of barrier-free public washroom facilities operating 24/7.
“This causes the homeless to feel shame, embarrassment, discomfort, stress and helplessness due to the city’s discrimination against them for being homeless,” he wrote in his initial application.
In their decision posted last week, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario drew from case law to conclude that homelessness is not mentioned in the Human Rights Code so is not protected.
Though Marshall brought his complaint forward on behalf of 21 applicants who were experiencing homelessness at the time, of whom several also reported mental or physical disabilities, the application centered on homelessness and not all applicants were disabled.
“It took a year and half for them to get back to me on this,” Marshall told Sudbury.com this week, also expressing frustration in his dealings with the city and city council’s lack of interest in addressing the washroom issue.
“What really gets me is how the city doesn’t care,” he said, noting that despite years of advocacy, including a public protest in August 2023, there are still no 24/7, barrier-free public washroom facilities for the city’s homeless population, nor any known plans to create them.
The thing that Marshall said disappoints him the most is in the city’s legal response to the human rights challenge he filed with the tribunal, in which they stated that they “acted in good faith and accommodated the homeless population of the City of Greater Sudbury to the point of undue hardship.”
Marshall flags other multi-million-dollar municipal expenditures, such as the Cultural Hub at Tom Davies Square and downtown events centre, as evidence there’s money available, but not the political will.
“All of that they can do, no problem, but they can’t put in washrooms at night for the homeless,” he said with a sarcastic tone.
With his human rights complaint falling flat with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, Marshall said his next step would be advocating through Public Health Sudbury and Districts, since people defecating without access to soap and water to wash up afterward is a health issue.
Meanwhile, Downtown Sudbury BIA executive director Jeff MacIntyre said that his organization has been working behind the scenes to get a public washroom built downtown.
“We’d love to see something tomorrow, but at the same time we’re also advocating that with new builds happening downtown there’s an opportunity to create some public bathrooms,” he said, citing the cultural hub and event centre as possible venues for 24/7 public washroom facilities.
Many downtowns have had success in having public bathrooms as part of new or existing buildings, he said, with most success stories having them situated in highly visible areas where they’re less likely to suffer vandalism or misuse.
Some Ontario municipalities have also installed standalone, self-cleaning washroom facilities.
The availability of public washrooms “makes for a better functioning downtown,” MacIntyre said, adding that public washrooms have become a key talking point among downtown advocates in municipalities both big and small.
“When we talk to other communities it’s one of the top issues,” he said, clarifying that public washrooms benefit not only the homeless community, but anyone visiting downtown Sudbury.
Downtown Sudbury has been advocating for public washrooms to be included in the updated Downtown Master Plan, which sets a long-term vision for the city’s downtown core and which city council is expected to review in September.
Following the public protest in 2023, Sudbury.com published a series of stories highlighting the issues surrounding the city’s lack of 24/7 barrier-free public washrooms.
Members of downtown Sudbury’s homeless community reported using washrooms at Tom Davies Square, the Elgin Street Mission or the MacKenzie Street branch of the Greater Sudbury Public Library, while some said they’re more accustomed to going outside. Existing publicly accessible washrooms are in buildings people can be banned from and have limited hours.
The city’s list of downtown public washrooms and water access points lacks barrier-free facilities (bans can be in place), with an overnight gap in available facilities remaining in place today.
“The shelter system is available to individuals in the overnight hours and offers access to washrooms,” a city spokesperson wrote in a statement to Sudbury.com.
“We continue to monitor community needs and remain committed to working collaboratively with community partners and stakeholders to find sustainable solutions for homelessness.”
The city’s shelters have been operating at or near capacity in recent weeks, and there were 322 people recorded as “actively homeless” within the city’s by-name list as of May.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.