City defends removal of portable washrooms, plans to install one in Victoria Park

Two portable washrooms were removed from Regina’s Heritage neighbourhood by city workers over the weekend.

The washrooms had been placed there by the local activist group Rally Around Homelessness, which said it placed the washrooms there on its own dime for the purpose of serving the city’s homeless who don’t always have reliable access to a public washroom.

The citizens of Regina — out of desperation — put 2 portapotties at a core park on our dime. They were not impeding on use of the space and placed carefully and respectfully. The @CityofRegina is removing them.

The dignity of a place to relieve oneself matters.

— Rally Around Homelessness (@CampMarjorie1) June 10, 2023

“I could literally walk around this neighbourhood and document the public health hazard of human feces and known makeshift toilets,” Rally Around Homelessness said in a tweet.

“I am saddened and somewhat outraged that a City waits until 5:20 pm on the weekend to remove the one act of kindness residents are giving one another.”

On Wednesday, city manager Niki Anderson said the two portable washrooms were removed due to a lack of consultation with the city as well as for maintenance and security reasons.

“On city owned-land, we need to take a purposeful approach to what we have on those lands,” Anderson said. “We are not opposed, and in fact we support, (having public washrooms) and you will see through our actions that we will have public washrooms available.”

Anderson said there were short-term and longer-term plans to address the issue of public washrooms.

“We couldn’t have the (portable washrooms in Heritage Park) stay there and unfortunately, the company who put (them) there wasn’t able to tell us who had even rented it, so we didn’t really have an option to talk to (whoever) that was so we removed it,” she said.

Anderson also pointed to existing public washrooms such as the ones at City Hall and the downtown location of the Regina Public Library.

However, she acknowledged the limitations of those places not being open at all hours.

Anderson said the city is in the process of putting up a portable washroom in Victoria Park that will be open 24/7.

“I also realize that we don’t have good wayfinding signs, and so you will see in the near future better wayfinding to make sure that everyone knows that (washrooms) are available to the general public,” Anderson said.

Anderson said the city will also consider placing a portable washroom in the Heritage neighbourhood — an area where many vulnerable people have made encampments.