CAMBRIDGE, Ontario (LifeSiteNews) — An Ontario city council has refused to hear concerns over a “universal gender-neutral common area” that could result in children being groomed.
During a February 27 city council meeting in Cambridge, Ontario, Kitchener resident Janice Fiaschetti was silenced and removed from the meeting after voicing concerns over the proposed glass-walled “universal gender-neutral common area” in the town’s new recreation center.
“At issue is the council’s plan that is laid out in the MJM architectural drawings to have open universal bathrooms, change rooms, and showers,” Janice Fiaschetti began.
“I ask if any of the councillors provide a guarantee to ensure our children will be safe in any of these areas.”
According to blueprints, the city plans to build a glass-walled “universal gender-neutral common area” in its new recreation center instead of traditional male and female change rooms.
The main floor washroom, for both sexes, will have a series of private, floor-to-ceiling cubicles and a public area for handwashing. There will also be a few cubicles with both toilets and sinks.
The recreation center will also have two universal rooms with a shared space for showering, along with some private cubicles. Both the washrooms and change rooms’ walls will be made of transparent glass.
During the meeting, Fiaschetti attempted to explain the dangers of the proposed plan, saying, “Having these open areas whereby, for example, a young child or a young female can be changing, using the washroom, or showering with men who very well could be naked or choose not to cover themselves, would not be a safe environment for them.”
Fiaschetti further pointed out that the plans refer to “grooming cubicles” within the change room, a term the plan uses to refer to spaces with “high walls, showers, and doors which can be locked for privacy.”
Fiaschetti encouraged the councillors to google the word “grooming and see what definition comes up first.”
“What if those same grooming cubicles allow the opportunist individual to have contact with a vulnerable child?” she questioned.
“Part of the process of grooming children is establishing a connection, isolating a child,” Fiaschetti began before being interrupted by Mayor Jan Liggett, who claimed she was “going in a direction that is not allowed here.”
Liggett argued that Fiaschetti’s concerns have “nothing to do with this facility.” However, Fiaschetti responded that they “absolutely” do, refusing to sit down. As a result, Liggett called security and removed Fiaschetti from the room.
Despite Fiaschetti’s concerns, the council voted 7-2 to go ahead with the new plans, which are projected to be finished by 2026.
Robert Allen, who designed the glass-walled change room, failed to address Fiaschetti’s concerns, telling the council that the purpose of the plan was to provide an “inclusive” change room.