“Really intrusive”: mixed toilets filmed by surveillance cameras in a school

Parents of students at a secondary school in Abitibi-Témiscamingue are demanding the removal of the new mixed toilets and the surveillance cameras that have been installed there, because they would make several students uncomfortable.

On Monday, a petition denouncing these new arrangements that appeared at the start of the school year at the La Calypso pavilion at Amos secondary school was posted online. Two toilet blocks, previously gender-neutral, were in fact renovated and converted into mixed toilets during the summer.

The author of the petition, Michèle Beaudoin, maintains that these create unease, particularly among young girls attending the establishment which brings together secondary 1 and 2 students.

“Young girls are starting to menstruate. Removing their sanitary napkins, unwrapping them, it makes noise. We hear between the toilets. In adolescence, we have a lot of discomfort, we are modest,” she explains.

M^me Beaudoin says parents and students were never consulted about these changes. Several parents have complained about the situation since the start of the year.

But the installation of surveillance cameras last week, filming in particular the common areas inside the sanitary blocks, was the last straw for M^me Beaudoin.

“I have never been [au courant] from another school that was forced to install cameras in toilets. I find it really intrusive,” she laments.

The CSS defends itself

Tuesday, the Harricana School Service Center (CSS) issued a press release to deny information conveyed in the petition.

“The toilet blocks are made up of individual closed toilets and not open partitions. These facilities have been designed to provide privacy and security to all students,” indicated the CSS.

The latter also claims that these renovations had been started before the directive banning any new mixed toilets in public schools issued last May by the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville. The works exceeded the 30% design threshold, “which places them among the exceptions to this directive”.

The minister had decided on this question after a debate launched by a similar project launched by the Iberville school, also located in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, in August 2023. “The Amos secondary school should have relied on what happened at the Iberville school, and probably not to move forward with it,” believes M^me Beaudoin.

“They persisted despite the discontent,” laments another parent who signed the petition, who did not want to be identified.

It raises questions”

As for the cameras, they were placed “in the common areas” of the sanitary block, because they “contribute to ensuring the security of the premises”, justified the CSS.

The use of cameras in toilet blocks raises eyebrows in Minister Drainville’s office.

“We understand very well that this raises questions. […] It is up to the CSS to explain its decision and to adjust if necessary,” wrote its communications director, Antoine de la Durantaye.

The Department of Education was unable to clarify Tuesday whether it has guidelines for the use of cameras in washrooms.