Public Toilets in Ottawa

[vtecyo]

Originally Posted by skyscraperaccount

In my mind it isn't a public toilet if it has 'hours'. Is this open all hours?

I don't know - I can't find anything online about it even existing. I imagine it's closed when the park is - just like every other toilet in every other park in the city. Of course there are a few port-a-potties setup by the NCC along some of the parkways etc. Those are probably open all night, but not available all year.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by vtecyo

I don't know - I can't find anything online about it even existing. I imagine it's closed when the park is - just like every other toilet in every other park in the city. Of course there are a few port-a-potties setup by the NCC along some of the parkways etc. Those are probably open all night, but not available all year.

The bushes are open all night.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by skyscraperaccount

So this is part of 'transportation' but the city rejected having them incorporated into every LRT station throughout this city to have bathroom facilities at EVERY stop on the non fare side. Ugg the lack of long term vision and corner cutting is infuriating.

The ones at Bayview and Hurdman seem closed most of the time, so we're not any further. Tunney's and Blair have faired better, maybe because they are multi stall washrooms with more "supervision" than the private ones.

Originally Posted by OTSkyline

Excuse me, a MILLION DOLLARS for 1 public washroom?? That should be enough to build 6 or 8 of them... Centretown, Byward, Lansdowne, etc...

Sounds like it's two washrooms. Still seems excessive considering an entire house can be built for $500k (maybe not quite today).

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

The bushes are open all night.

If you want to risk getting fined or caught by others.

[OTownandDown]

I was just in Boston, and they have a good network of public toilets. However like every city the current level of drug use and homelessness is rampant. Most toilet buildings were locked, and a dozen or more portapotties were set next to each one (I went for a jog along the Charles River Esplanade).

The one toilet I did go inside was full of people sleeping in the stalls. There was a lot of shouting and needles. It was... unpleasant.

[rocketphish]

One fewer public washrooms in the City...

Firefighters rescue man trapped inside Major's Hill Park washroom

William Eltherington, CTV News
Published Dec. 17, 2024 8:50 a.m. EST



Firefighters rescued a man trapped inside a washroom at Major's Hill Park in downtown Ottawa early Tuesday morning.

Ottawa Fire Services say they responded to 1223 Alexandra Bridge at approximately 3 a.m. after a 911 caller reported smoke and flames coming from a low-rise structure next to Tavern on the Hill.

Firefighters could see smoke coming from the roof and confirmed there was a person inside. Crews found the door was locked and had to force entry. They were able to pull the person out shortly after.

An Ottawa paramedics spokesperson says an adult male was treated for smoke inhalation and taken to hospital in serious condition.

Additional fire crews were called to the scene to battle the fire. Firefighters began a "fast attack" of the structure by advancing a hose line inside. Another search found no other occupants.

The fire was declared under control at approximately 3:30 a.m.

Ottawa police say the fire is not being considered suspicious at this time, according to an email.

An Ottawa Fire Services investigator has been dispatched to the scene to determine the cause and origin of the fire.

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/firefighters-r...ide-major-s-hill-park-washroom-1.7148248

[kwoldtimer]

If not suspicious, the fire would seem to be one heck of a coincidence.

[ponyboycurtis]

Do they not lock the gate at night? I would imagine they do, and it's quite sturdy.

There are also no combustibles on the inside so I guess this person would have brought their personal effects and torched them.

So that's all quite strange. Hopefully the washrooms will be back up and available quickly.

[DTcrawler]

Trying to put a positive spin on it - hopefully this incident will force the NCC's hand into giving these washrooms a makeover. Tons of tourists and residents alike use it in the summer, but it's kind of sad seeing the look on peoples' faces when they go inside. Last summer I saw one guy tell his kid to just skip washing his hands so they could get out of there asap. And that's despite it being regularly "cleaned" (seems like every time I'm at Tavern on the Hill and want to use it, it's closed for cleaning).

But who am I kidding, the NCC will probably lock it shut indefinitely while spending money studying how to proceed.

[BGO]

Originally Posted by DTcrawler

Trying to put a positive spin on it - hopefully this incident will force the NCC's hand into giving these washrooms a makeover. Tons of tourists and residents alike use it in the summer, but it's kind of sad seeing the look on peoples' faces when they go inside. Last summer I saw one guy tell his kid to just skip washing his hands so they could get out of there asap. And that's despite it being regularly "cleaned" (seems like every time I'm at Tavern on the Hill and want to use it, it's closed for cleaning).


But who am I kidding, the NCC will probably lock it shut indefinitely while spending money studying how to proceed.

Its closed most of the time I pass by, what a shame! Paris as the solution, simple solo toilet with urinary on the side and outside sink and water dispenser in one simple unit.

No comfort, no homeless spending hours inside. Plus the use is 20min only, I presume it unlocks after that. I presume a lot of drug addicts lock themselves inside when they are over tripping. I bet they will avoid that kind of facilities except for its main purpose

[J.OT13]

Gotta wonder what happened to all the money promised for these washrooms that never came to be. Did it disappear or was it part of Sutcliffe's "efficiencies" that seem to be mostly cancelling small improvement projects and deferred maintenance?

What ever happened to Ottawa's self-cleaning public toilets?
Bruce Deachman: Almost five years since a splashy announcement of public toilet investments in Ottawa, I’m still holding my bladder.

Bruce Deachman, Ottawa Citizen
Published Nov 19, 2025[/I]

I was in a burger joint on Bank Street the other day, where I was surprised to see a sign indicating that not only was the washroom there not open to the non-paying public — an all-too-common restriction at retail businesses throughout Ottawa — but that even customers sitting down and eating at the restaurant were forbidden from using the facilities.

I was about to rhetorically ask myself what this world is coming to when I thought, “Wait, shouldn’t there be some self-cleaning public toilets nearby outside?” That’s what this world is coming to, or at least what’s supposed to be coming to us.

You may recall the announcement last year, on or around World Toilet Day (for real: it’s Nov. 19), that the city’s 2025 budget included $1 million to install two self-cleaning public toilets in Centretown. The locations hadn’t been determined, but it was expected they’d open sometime this year.

At first blush, that seemed like a lot of money for a couple of bathrooms, self-cleaning or otherwise. But public washrooms are like hen’s teeth in downtown Ottawa, where they should be a basic measure of dignity and accessibility. Public washrooms, after all, allow everyone — including seniors, people with children, people living rough or just visiting — to move comfortably around the city and take part in its offerings. I sometimes tire of complaints that begin “You’d think that in a G8 capital…” but, honestly, you’d think that in a G8 capital people wouldn’t have to search out a parking-garage stairwell to relieve themselves with some measure of privacy.

Other cities have figured this out. New Westminster, B.C., is in the midst of implementing its city-wide Toilet Strategy. Edmonton and Calgary have public washroom strategies, both employing attendants to ensure cleanliness and safety. Montreal runs a collaborative network of self-cleaning facilities and free accessible toilets known as P’tit Coin. Waterloo boasts a self-cleaning “Uptown Loo,” while Winnipeg’s Places to Go program provides accessible washrooms for unhoused residents.

At the Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa, executive director Kaite Burkholder Harris says Ottawa’s dearth of public toilets is an oft-heard refrain. “Everybody deserves a clean place to use the bathroom,” she says.

Everyone agrees on the need. The city just needs to deliver.

Last year’s announcement wasn’t the first time Ottawans (and visitors) were teased with such state-of-the-art facilities. In July 2021, federal, provincial and municipal officials announced $1.69 million in funding for ByWard Market infrastructure, including $740,000 for a standalone, self-cleaning public washroom and “wayfinding” improvements — the latter, I suppose, meaning some signs telling folks where to go number one and number two. That came just months after city staff said that two self-cleaning public toilets — one in the Market, the other on Sparks Street — were on its bucket list of COVID-recovery projects, pegged then at $430,000 per washroom.

Almost five years later, I’m still holding my bladder. And we may just have to cross our knees for one more year.

Somerset Ward Coun. Ariel Troster, who has been pushing the issue since she was elected in 2022, says the first in what she hopes will be many standalone public washrooms in Ottawa should be open by next fall.

The location hasn’t been announced yet, but Troster says it will be in the downtown core, just off of Bank Street, after city staff mapped areas of greatest need, including clusters of 311 complaints about public urination and defecation.

“When I was elected, I was shocked that this issue didn’t really sit anywhere at the city,” she says. “It’s a public-health concern, but it’s also a public works and infrastructure issue. It’s potentially a parks issue.”

According to an emailed statement attributed to Court Curry, the city’s manager of Right of Way, Heritage, and Urban Design Services, public consultation will take place “in the coming months. At that time, more information about timing and locations will be shared.”

As for the long-promised self-cleaning washrooms, where the toilets and floors are automatically maintained, that’s not happening here — at least not yet.

“We’re going with a more conventional build and way more maintenance,” Troster says of the coming two-stall facility. “If we’re going to put it in a high-population area where we know we’ll have a lot of social challenges, we have to fund very robust maintenance. We need to work with local community organizations to be caretakers of the space.”

That’s a direction that suits Bessa Whitmore, of the local public-washroom advocacy group GottaGo! “The self-cleaning technology is great when it works right,” she says, “but not so much when it doesn’t.” In “better” neighbourhoods, she says, they tend to thrive. “In places with a lot of homelessness and drug use, they don’t work. They quickly get vandalized. If you have staff drawn from the community itself — people who know everybody and are supported well — it can work. You cannot substitute human beings.”

The situation in Ottawa, she says, is improving, but only spottily. There have been more porta-potties installed in suburban and rural sports fields, for example, “but otherwise we’re not getting too far.”

Article content
GottaGo! maintains a list of so-called “hidden” downtown toilets: 22 public washrooms tucked away inside buildings such as the National Arts Centre, Chateau Laurier, Rideau Centre and City Hall — the latter now requiring visitors to pass through security screening before accessing a stall. What’s missing, says Whitmore, is any street-level signage. “We cannot get the city, or whoever, to put up simple signs,” she says. “It’s amazing — I don’t know why it’s so difficult.”

Article content
Ottawa loves its strategies, studies and pilots. But we shouldn’t have to hold it this long.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/deachman-ottawa-public-toilets

[rocketphish]

Downtown Ottawa getting a new place to go when you ‘gotta go’

By Leah Larocque, CTV News
Published: January 12, 2026 at 6:10PM EST

The City of Ottawa will be building a stand-alone public washroom facility at the corner of Somerset Street and Bank Street.

This is something Somerset Ward Coun. Ariel Troster has been pushing for since getting elected.

Troster says a place to go to the washroom is a basic human right.

“We’ve been hearing, especially since there was more security installed at City Hall, there’s just less options for people. And with the escalating homelessness and addiction crisis, I’ve certainly heard from some businesses that are frustrated with being some of the only providers of washrooms in the downtown core,” Troster said.

The city set included $1 million for two new public washrooms in the 2025 budget.

Troster says there will be public feedback and consultations, and the city is hoping to break ground on the new downtown washroom in the fall.

It will not be self-cleaning and will instead be a conventional building that will be maintained by city staff or community partners.

“We looked at the self-cleaning technology, and we were a little bit worried, with the degree of freeze-thaw cycles that we get in the city,” Troster said. “We figured that the bathroom is going to need maintenance anyway, and it’s going to need frequent maintenance if it’s in a busy downtown location. And we’re prepared to make that investment to do it properly.”

Troster says there will be a robust plan to address social challenges in terms of cleanliness, and potential drug use or vandalism.

The GottaGo! Campaign has been calling on the city to create a network of clean and accessible public toilets in Ottawa.

“It’s the first time the city has committed something,” says Bessa Whitmore, with the GottaGo! Campaign. “Ottawa does not have a good network of public toilets.”

Kaite Burkholder Harris, with the Alliance to End Homelessness, says that public washrooms are critical pieces of city infrastructure.

“In Ottawa, we have over 500 people who are sleeping rough. They are not necessarily going to a shelter at night or to any indoor space. They desperately need a place to use the bathroom in a dignified way. Beyond that, we know that lots of people use public bathrooms. But when it comes to someone who’s sleeping outside or who is homeless during the day, there are not many options for that.”

In 2021, federal, provincial and municipal officials announced more than $1.6 million in funding for ByWard Market infrastructure. CTV News Ottawa reached out the city for clarification on the status of that washroom but has not heard back.

With files from CTV News Ottawa’s Peter Szperling and Josh Pringle

https://www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/article/downtown-ottawa-getting-a-new-place-to-go-when-you-gotta-go/

[J.OT13]

Freeze-thaw cycle? Even without the self cleaning, that's still a problem if the hut isn't properly heated. So what, will it be closed in winter?

We're still missing several public washrooms that were promised over the last 5 years.

[DarthVader_1961]

Where exactly would this end up at Bank and Somerset?

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by DarthVader_1961

Where exactly would this end up at Bank and Somerset?

I think someone said here I believe, in the grassy area next to Massine's apartment tower and underground parking:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Bank+S..._ep=EgoyMDI2MDEwNy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

[rocketphish]

City councillor pushes for downtown public washroom plan
Washroom planned near Bank and Somerset streets now $400,000 over budget

Arthur White-Crummey · CBC News
Posted: Apr 07, 2026 3:09 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

An Ottawa city councillor is asking for a downtown public washroom plan and contending with a previously approved washroom facing cost overruns.

Somerset ward Coun. Ariel Troster was behind a motion that passed at council's finance and corporate services committee on Tuesday asking staff to consider such a plan.

She noted that public urination and defecation is becoming an increasingly serious problem downtown and she's facing the sight of human excrement on the street in her ward every day.

“This is a fundamental public service we are failing at and it’s a fundamental public health emergency,” Troster said.

As one option, she wants them to look at using the design for a washroom already planned for Bank and Somerset streets as a template to open similar facilities elsewhere in the area.
Washroom re-approval

The facility planned for that street corner was approved in the 2025 budget at a cost of $1 million.

Construction was expected to begin later this year, but city staff revealed Tuesday that it is now about $400,000 over budget and they will have to come back to council for approval before moving forward.

Marcia Wallace, the city’s general manager of planning, development and building services, said the cost overruns stemmed from a “more security-focused design,” especially in light of vandalism and needle use that forced OC Transpo to temporarily close LRT washrooms in February.

She said the city is no longer looking at a self-cleaning facility, but a more robust model that can withstand “mischief and vandalism.”

Beyond asking staff to look at expanding that design to more locations, Troster’s motion also asks staff to draw up an inventory of other public washroom facilities, including expanded hours and more cleaning.

She also pushed for partnerships with local businesses to expand the use of private washrooms through city-sponsored efforts for more cleaning and monitoring.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-downtown-public-washroom-plan-2026-9.7155193

[acottawa]

How does a public washroom cost $1.4 million? Does it have robot attendants?

[J.OT13]

Another Watson era approved improvement that never happened. Under Watson, two public washrooms, Sparks and ByWard, were approved, and funded by the Feds, but never built under Sutcliffe. Where's the money Mark?

Originally Posted by acottawa

How does a public washroom cost $1.4 million? Does it have robot attendants?

I think they had decided not to go with the self cleaning type because of, well, vandalism. I can't really explain why these are so expensive, unless they are indestructible, which I highly doubt.

They are needed though. I just wish there was a better way.

[J.OT13]

Renderings of the washrooms. The cost makes a little more sense.




https://www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/article/ce...roject-paused-after-it-runs-over-budget/

[OTSkyline]

I don't know why we keep overcomplicating things. All we need is to install these self-cleaning toilets (like in Paris) around downtown and key locations.

We don't need a $1.4M angled-roof, ball-storage, cement bathroom.

[dougvdh]

Originally Posted by acottawa

How does a public washroom cost $1.4 million? Does it have robot attendants?

The Loo Loo public washroom in Winnipeg (built 4 years ago using recycle shipping containers) cost $875,000.

Also have no idea if there are any complications with connecting to services or with soils issues. Both of those things can significantly impact costs on small projects. Some will remember when it cost over $200k to replace 3 water fountains at Dow's Lake a few years ago.