‘A leap forward’ or ‘invitation for trouble’: Gender-neutral washrooms in two Chilliwack elementary schools

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Teri Westerby, another trustee candidate and a transgender man, said it’s painful to hear Maah’s views on the washrooms, especially when there was hard work involved in making it come to fruition.

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“It’s unfortunate that these discriminatory remarks have taken control of the narrative around the school expansions and the new gender-neutral bathrooms that have just been built,” Westerby said. “I wish that this conversation instead could be about celebrating the amazing victory that there’s a new school, Stitó:s Lá:lém Totí:lt , and how the new gender-neutral bathroom inside the Vedder Middle School is a huge leap forward for the Chilliwack School District and its students—for accessibility, safety, and inclusion.”

Maahs remarked that the Long Range Facilities Plan was approved back in December 2021, and although she didn’t agree with it, she voted for it.

“I did vote for it because I’m not going to derail the entire long-range facilities plan for this item,” she said.

Westerby said school board trustees should know their responsibilities, read their packages, and consider all the community needs and concerns; and that they should have healthy conversations with other trustees and then make their decision.

“And once that decision is made, we trust the school board trustees to stand with that decision and to speak positively about it, and about the staff and their work in implementing it in the community,” he added.

The founder and president of the Chilliwack PRIDE Society, Westerby said through his work, youth have confided in him about the pain of using public washrooms and not feeling included or accepted.

“This conversation, this article, I would so much rather it be about how seven trustees saw the value in creating a safe washroom space that’s built on universal design for any student to be able to access,” he said. “But instead of celebrating our progress, we must have this different conversation, and it’s unacceptable.”

However, Maahs stressed that her concern encompasses all children—period.

“As far as I’m concerned, trans kids can go in whatever washroom they feel comfortable in,” she said. “There shouldn’t be any hard and fast rules on that; I mean, they go where they feel the most comfortable, but to adapt entire populations of washrooms for that purpose, I think it puts kids at risk.”