The Downtown Public Washroom “What We Heard” report, presented April 13, 2026, summarizes feedback from 1,512 respondents and shows a divided community, with 51.6% supporting more washrooms downtown. Preferred locations clustered along 3rd Avenue, no single delivery model stood out, and respondents consistently emphasized safety, cleanliness, and maintenance as top priorities to inform Council’s next steps.

Next Steps

Following receipt of the report, Council directed Administration to proceed with further planning by identifying a preferred approach to improve downtown public washroom access. This work will consider seasonal needs and include detailed capital and operating cost estimates for installation, maintenance, monitoring, location, and lifecycle, with findings to be brought back to Council for consideration in the 2027 budget cycle.

Whether you live, work, shop, or spend time downtown, access to a public washroom matters. Staff have reviewed different delivery models, costs, and approaches used by other municipalities and service providers, and now we want to hear from you.

At its September 17, 2025 Regular Council Meeting, Council received for information a report titled Access to Public Washrooms in Downtown Prince George, which summarizes options and considerations. Council has now directed Administration to seek feedback from the public and the downtown community. If you haven’t already seen this report, we recommend reading it before taking the survey.

The challenges around access to public washrooms in downtown Prince George have been discussed for many years, driven by ongoing and polarized concerns about availability, safety, and maintenance. The City has explored this issue through cost estimate reporting, consultations with downtown service providers in 2018, 2022, and 2025, and a 2018 survey with people who experience homelessness and rely on downtown services. Together, this work has highlighted limited washroom access and growing strain on service providers and businesses in the downtown.

In response to these challenges, the Canada Games Plaza washrooms were opened on a pilot basis from April 14, 2020, to November 28, 2020, to help address reduced public washroom access during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly for people experiencing homelessness downtown. Building on this experience and previous surveys, Council received an updated report in September 2025 that outlined current conditions, revised cost estimates, lessons learned from other municipalities and offered potential approaches to improving access. As a next step, Council directed Administration to engage the public to better understand community needs, preferred locations, and perspectives on potential options for downtown washrooms.