Nearly five years after a high-profile announcement promised revolutionary self-cleaning public toilets for Ottawa's downtown core, residents and visitors are still left searching for a place to go. The city's ambitious plan, initially unveiled with great fanfare, has failed to materialize, leaving a critical gap in public infrastructure.
The Broken Promise of Public Convenience
The situation became painfully clear for one resident recently at a Bank Street burger joint, where even paying customers were prohibited from using washroom facilities. This experience highlights a widespread problem throughout Canada's capital: the severe shortage of accessible public restrooms.
In November 2024, coinciding with World Toilet Day on November 19, the city's 2025 budget allocated $1 million for installing two self-cleaning public toilets in Centretown. While specific locations remained undetermined at that time, officials projected the facilities would open sometime this year. That deadline has now passed without progress.
A History of Delayed Sanitation Solutions
This isn't the first time Ottawa has teased residents with modern public toilet facilities. Back in July 2021, federal, provincial and municipal officials announced $1.69 million in funding for ByWard Market infrastructure, including $740,000 specifically earmarked for a standalone, self-cleaning public washroom alongside wayfinding improvements.
That announcement came merely months after city staff identified two self-cleaning public toilets—one in the ByWard Market and another on Sparks Street—as priority COVID-recovery projects, with an estimated cost of $430,000 per washroom at that time.
How Other Canadian Cities Succeed Where Ottawa Fails
While Ottawa struggles to implement basic public sanitation infrastructure, other Canadian municipalities have developed successful strategies. New Westminster, B.C., is currently implementing a comprehensive city-wide Toilet Strategy, while both Edmonton and Calgary employ attendants to ensure cleanliness and safety in their public washroom facilities.
Montreal operates a collaborative network of self-cleaning facilities and free accessible toilets known as P'tit Coin. Waterloo boasts a self-cleaning "Uptown Loo," and Winnipeg's Places to Go program provides accessible washrooms for unhoused residents.
Kaite Burkholder Harris, executive director at the Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa, confirms that the shortage of public toilets remains a frequent complaint among city residents. "Everybody deserves a clean place to use the bathroom," she emphasizes, underscoring what should be a basic measure of human dignity in a G8 capital city.
Public washrooms enable everyone—including seniors, parents with young children, people experiencing homelessness, and visitors—to move comfortably throughout the city and participate in community offerings. Despite universal agreement about the need, Ottawa has yet to deliver on its repeated promises, leaving residents literally holding their bladders five years after the initial splashy announcement.
