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canada’s only Daily Student Newspaper • founded 1906
Volume 105, issue 26
USC pushing for gender-neutral bathrooms 70 bathrooms on campus slated to be converted Cheryl Stone News Features Editor There’s only one in the University Community Centre, there are another two in Weldon if you know where to look, and there are only 18 of them on the entire Western campus. This is after the University Students’ Council was promised to eventually see 70 gender-neutral bathrooms on campus. According to Marissa Joffre, vice-president campus issues for the USC, in 2008 a list of 70 single stall bathrooms were given to the vice-president at the time, with the promise 10 of these would have signage indicating they were gender-neutral by the end of the year. Each year after would see 10 more bathrooms converted. “If you’re stressed about going to the washroom, this campus isn’t accessible,” Joffre explained. She noted trans people could face violence, or even have to out themselves when using one of the single-gender bathrooms on campus.
“It is commonplace for transgendered individuals to develop bladder and kidney infections because they do not feel they are safe using single-sex washrooms,” Stephanie Armstrong, director of gender diversity and awareness with PrideWestern, explained. She noted gender-neutral bathrooms were not just for people who did not fit the dual-gender norm, but people who wanted more privacy or may need to wash before prayer would also benefit. Joffre noted her goal was to have the spaces available to whoever wanted to use them, whether the individual was out or not. Armstrong is currently working with the transgendered community to create an inclusive symbol to label the new washrooms. Joffre explained by the end of the year she was hoping to be able to put a pamphlet in the Support Services Centre. As Armstrong explained, providing the gender-neutral space is half the battle. “As someone who has tried find-
Photo illustration by Adam Godin Gazette
ing the gender-neutral washrooms between classes or on break during class, I know that these are often in the back corner of a building,” she said. “If there were more genderneutral washrooms on campus with better signage, finding and using these washrooms would be easier for students and would support inclusivity on campus.”
Joffre admitted part of the stall on the part of administration may have been because past vice-presidents had other priorities. “I feel like someone needs to be pushing this forward.” She explained the administration had been receptive to this issue since she brought it up again, but she was left to figure out why
the issue had been put on the back burner by the University. Armstrong explained the bathrooms were one of many important steps to an inclusive campus. “I do think it is a step in the right direction and sets an important precedent for supporting the diverse community that Western values so much.”
Southwest Ontario may be getting off track No current plans for high speed railway to make stop in London Gloria Dickie News Features Editor If a high speed train leaves Toronto at 11 a.m., and is travelling at a speed of 250 kilometres an hour, when will it arrive in London? Never, according to a report released Monday by EcoTrain consultants. Canadian officials have been considering the implementation of high speed rail along the Quebec City-Windsor corridor for years, endorsing several studies on the subject. However, the most recent feasibility study left London and Windsor out of the plan for economic reasons, instead focusing on construction to the east. “It’s obviously done by someone in Toronto and they think the world stops at Toronto,” Bud Polhill, ward one councillor for the City, said. “This is the fourth busiest rail station in Canada, and yet we’re not stopping here. It doesn’t make any sense.”
High speed rail, according to the recommendations, would connect Toronto to Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City with trains travelling at speeds between 200 to 300 kilometres per hour. “[The study] sends the message that we don’t deserve to have high speed rail,” Polhill argued. “And that’s not the message I want to send. We want to be part of this.” High speed rail would have the ability to cut travel times in half, making a trip from London to Toronto take as little as 51 minutes. “I think that in today’s world, people are expecting faster, more efficient transportation,” Dianne Cunningham, director of the Lawrence National Centre for Policy Management at Ivey who has studied the impact of high speed rail, observed. She argued high speed rail gives people a choice of jobs and where they want to live, allowing people to have a better quality of life. For Polhill, high speed rail would
It’s obviously done by someone in Toronto and they think the world stops at Toronto. This is the fourth busiest rail station in Canada, and yet we’re not stopping here. It doesn’t make any sense. —Bud Polhill,
ward one councillor for the City
have profound effects on London’s economy and the international corridor to the United States. “That’s why we have the 401—that’s why it goes through London and Windsor, because of all the traffic from the United States,” Polhill explained. “You’ve got a highway to go there, but the train won’t.” However, Canada’s lack of high speed transit also makes a much bigger statement about the nation, Cunningham believed. While Canada was once a leader in transportation, with the TransCanada highway and Toronto’s subway system, in recent years the nation has fallen behind. “Regular rail systems in Canada are really not competitive with what people who live in other countries in the world enjoy,” Cunningham said. “And that means they’re old, they’re not always comfortable, they’re slow and they don’t always arrive on time.” She compared Canada to Spain,
a nation which has constructed a high speed rail system in only five years, while on the other hand, Canada has taken 25 years to simply study the subject. “Now, we are the only G8 country that does not have fast speed rail,” she said. The study predicted that if built by 2031, the rail system, with 10 million passengers, could generate $1.2 to $1.3 billion annually for the Canadian economy. But that money would have little effect on London’s local economy if the city continued to be left off-track. In the meantime, Polhill promised the City of London would continue to advocate on London’s behalf to be included in the plan. “We as a council are going to lobby and basically put our position forward very strongly that if this rail system comes into play, we want to be part of it,” he concluded. “And we want to make sure there’s a stop in the city of London.”