The City of New Westminster's Toilet Strategy

This strategy includes recommendations to address gaps in the availability, safety, maintenance, and dignity of public toilets throughout New Westminster. It was adopted by Mayor and Council at the July 13, 2026 Regular Council Meeting.

Public toilets play an important role in creating welcoming, healthy, and socially-connected community. They do this by:

• Allowing people to fully and meaningfully participate in community activities and events
• Supporting vibrant commercial districts
• Promoting public health

There is a universal need for public toilets, but finding and using one can be challenging for various reasons. Trying to find accurate, up-to-date information regarding public toilet locations can be difficult. Some people may feel uncomfortable or unsafe because of issues such as cleanliness, misuse, and vandalism. Many public toilets are not open in the evenings, or run limited hours in winter months. Others may face barriers related to their ability, gender identity, or housing status. 

This strategy looks beyond building new toilets: it also considers:

• How users are finding/locating toilets
• How users have access to information about toilets in the city
• How current toilets are operated, including but not limited to cleanliness, maintenance, hours of operation, reporting, and data collection
• How to improve current spaces, including through accessibility upgrades
• Whether there are opportunities to work with community partners to expand toilet access

The approach is based on feedback from other municipalities and the public, who have said that building new toilets alone will not address all the barriers people face when looking to access them. 

There are two actions tied to newly constructed toilets. These include:

• Two toilets at Westminster Pier Park (Park C)
• One toilet at 801 Agnes Street
• One toilet at Old Schoolhouse Park 

Supporting the strategic building of toilets across the city. The proposed City Interdepartmental Working Group would implement the approach and would work to identify opportunities to enhance public toilet access in City plans, policies, and strategies. 

Council previously directed staff to pause work on the permanent free-standing public toilet on Begbie Street. To better meet a wider set of needs across the community, Council endorsed the staff recommendation to reallocate funds from the planned toilet on Begbie Street to the implementation of the short-term recommendations from the Strategy in 2026 and 2027.

There are a number of recommendations in the strategy to address this, including:

• Improve staff procedures and training to better support users with a variety of needs;
• Review learnings from the Park Liaison Officer Program, and their impact on washroom access and operations;
• Exploring a pilot project to provide more staff support at select public toilet locations;
• Develop guidelines for where portable toilets should be placed in parks, along with ensuring they are in well-lit, easy to see areas;
• Review all public toilets to identify important upgrades, including but not limited to better lighting, non-slip flooring, and other accessibility and safety features

The strategy focuses mainly on access to public toilets (e.g., toilets publicly-funded and universally available to all members of the community). While many community members might be able to meet their needs in privately-owned washrooms (e.g., washrooms in shopping centres, businesses, post-secondary institutions) access can be granted or restricted at the owner’s discretion.

The strategy includes identifying and actioning opportunities to partner with the public and private sector to increase universal access to toilets across New Westminster.

As SkyTrain stations are owned by TransLink, the City cannot build public toilets on these properties. TransLink has a Customer Washrooms on Transit Policy (adopted in 2018) and continues to work on its Customer Washroom Program. The City’s strategy includes a recommendation to collaborate with or advocate to TransLink for the inclusion of public toilets at New Westminster transit hubs. 

There is a recommendation in the strategy to develop a Public Toilet Map; the hope is to host it on the City’s website. The City is currently a participant in the GoHere Washroom Access Program, a washroom app offered by Crohn's and Colitis Canada.

We appreciate your interest in this work. Please email toiletstrategy@newwestcity.ca