The Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, refused to allow girls’ or boys’ toilets to be turned into toilet blocks. He also ordered a school that plans to do so to rectify the situation.
“There is no question of changing the men’s restrooms to mixed restrooms or the women’s restrooms to mixed restrooms,” Mr. Drainville said before going into the Blue Room for commencement. in the parliamentary term on Tuesday.
“I can imagine the scene: a girl 12-13-14 years old, who starts her period, for example, then who leaves the cubicle, then there are boys next door, 13-14 years old tan- Look, he was described. Think of the scene, the ridicule, the ridicule, the humiliation.
“There is no question that we are going in that direction,” insisted the minister, who is eager to preserve the privacy of women, like men, especially at the age of puberty.
A school is too far away
According to him, the management of D’Iberville secondary school, in Rouyn-Noranda, went so far as to warn parents, in a letter, that the bathrooms for girls and boys will be reorganized also to mixed sanitary blocks.
Mr. Drainville reported that his office intervened with the school concerned after this situation made headlines last week.
“We believe that the school must correct the situation,” said the minister.
“Can we, as I have seen in some schools, designate an individual toilet and designate it as a mixed toilet? Why not,” suggested Mr. Drainville.
In his eyes, this is a “very reasonable and acceptable compromise” for those who identify as non-binary, along with students or staff.
A reflection is required
More broadly, “with all questions of gender identity, we are now considering the best way to address the issues,” Mr. Drainville said.
His colleague and minister responsible for the fight against homophobia and transphobia, Martine Biron, also believes that reflection is necessary to establish a general framework.
The leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, suggested on Tuesday morning that it be debated by a parliamentary committee.
“I don’t know if this is the best way,” replied MME Biron, who believes that isolated cases cannot be handled “on a small scale”.
“We cannot start making wall-to-wall policies for every little case that is submitted to us,” considered M.ME Biron.
