City-wide Toilet Strategy
Project Update – July 23, 2026:
On July 13, 2026, New Westminster City Council adopted the City-Wide Toilet Strategy.
The Strategy includes 29 recommendations organized into four categories. These categories are:
- Information and Communication;
- Safe Operations – Maintenance Comfort and Cleanliness;
- the Built Environment; and
- Partnerships, Pilot Projects, Advocacy and Collaboration.
The recommendations within the City-Wide Toilet Strategy aim to improve the availability, safety, maintenance and dignity of public toilet facilities for all community members in New Westminster, as well as for specific groups who face barriers or who have unique needs. These include older adults, people living with disabilities, and people living underlying health conditions; families with young children, and people experiencing homelessness.
Implementation of the City-Wide Toilet Strategy will take place in a phased approach over a five-year period, beginning in September 2026.
Short-term actions (September 2026-December 2027) focus on responding to pressing needs, such as standardizing reporting and monitoring, completing small-scale accessibility retrofits, scaling up City signage, improving wayfinding resources, and partnering with community organizations.
In the medium term (January 2028-December 2029), actions focus on increasing the availability of toilets through partnerships, collaboration, and advocacy, improving digital wayfinding resources, and by piloting extended hours of operation and seasonal availability at select locations.
Long-Term (January 2029-December 2031) actions focus on addressing accessibility gaps, formalizing partnerships with public institutions and businesses, and planning for future infrastructure needs as well as more extensive retrofits and upgrades.
Who's Listening?
What is happening?
Access to public toilets is a fundamental human right. It also supports public health and is essential for supporting independence for everyone in our community. The City is developing a City-wide Toilet Strategy that will include recommendations to address gaps in the availability, safety, maintenance, and dignity of toilet facilities throughout New Westminster for all members of the community.
What is the City-wide Toilet Strategy?
The City-wide Toilet Strategy is a new guiding document that will include recommendations to address gaps in the availability, safety, maintenance, and dignity of toilet facilities throughout New Westminster.
The strategy will:
- provide an overview of the current availability of all public toilets in New Westminster, including their locations, hours of operation, seasonal availability, and accessibility;
- identify promising practices occurring in other cities related to the provision of public toilets;
- engage with community members and groups to understand their experiences accessing toilets in New Westminster; and
- explore potential solutions to enhance access to toilets, including partnerships between the City and businesses and organizations.
The City recognizes that not everyone has the same experience when accessing toilets. The City-wide Toilet Strategy aims to assess and address the needs of all members of the community while considering the distinct experiences of those who may face challenges or barriers when accessing toilets. These include seniors; people living with disabilities; people living with health conditions; families with young children; and people who are unhoused. As part of this engagement, staff are prioritizing working with community-serving organizations and reaching those with identities and experiences listed above with an invitation to join a focus group to understand their experiences when accessing toilets in New Westminster.
For the broader community, feedback and experiences are being collected through an online survey. Please see the “How can I engage?” section below for more details.
Your input will help us:
- understand current patterns of toilet use in New Westminster,
- identify neighbourhoods that may need additional facilities or supports to enhance access, such as attendant services, enhanced maintenance, or extended hours of availability,
- identify or build on strategies and partnerships to address gaps in toilet access, and
- establish guiding principles that will inform future efforts in providing toilets.
The Citywide Toilet Strategy will align with other previous and current City initiatives that relate to the provision of public toilets, including the Downtown Livability Strategy, the Crises Response Pilot Project, the updated Age Friendly Community Strategy (in progress), and the updated Parks and Recreation Comprehensive Plan (in progress).
The strategy will consider the diverse needs of the community. It will guide the future provision and management of public toilets by providing clear recommendations to address gaps in the availability, safety, maintenance, and dignity of toilet facilities throughout New Westminster.
For more information about the strategy and related City programs, check out our FAQs below and the links on the side of this page.
Phases
Finalize strategy
- The finalized City-wide Toilet Strategy is planned to be shared with Council for approval in 2026.