Men's and women's washroom signs in the basement of Building C. Human rights lawyers said the lack of waste bins for menstrual products in men's stalls
could be a violation of B.C.’s Human Rights Code. 7Revor nauLT PHOTO

Toilets stall human rights

Lack of menstrual waste bins could be human rights breach

ByTREVOR NAULT

he lack of waste bins for

menstrual products in

men’s washroom stalls at

Langara College could

be a violation of British Columbia’s

Human Rights Code, according to
three human rights lawyers.

Responding to

Ww the issue raised

WT) in The Voice last

week, Dan Sois-

eth of Commu-

nity Legal As-

‘ sistance Society

: said that while

Lindsay Waddell the application
are Moore EDGAR Of human rights
LYSTER law can be highly

circumstantial, “to
the extent that transgender people

; .
arent feeling welcome to use the
washroom facilities, that could pos-
sibly be discrimination.”

Richard Johnson at Kent Em-

The likelihood of this issue go-
ing to court isn't too high, accord-
ing to Lindsay Waddell of Moore
Edgar Lyster. However, she be-

ployment Law lieves it could be
sees it as an issue “ : a breach of the
that can be easily Putting these [stall Human Rights
fixed. i ins] in Code.

“The act of d sposal b s] ' a “I certainly
patting these male washroom’ is | think it could
stall disposal on constitute a
bins] in a ‘male not undue hardship. violation of the
washroom is not | -RICHARD JOHNSON, KENTEMPLOMENT | Human Rights
undue hardship, LAW Code,” Waddell

so to create fair

and equal treatment, in my view
they would need to put them in,”
Johnson said.

Last week, two transgender stu-
dents at Langara spoke out about a
lack of private menstrual waste bins
in men’s washroom stalls.

said.

“I would hope it wouldnt get
there because the resolution is very
simple.”

Sherry Chin-Shue, Langara’s
director of labour relations and hu-
man rights, was not in a position to
formally commit to any facilities

modifications, she stressed the im-
portance of engaging in a dialogue
with staff and students.

“If there are individuals who re-
quire accommodation for specific
things, we want to talk to them. We
want to try and work through it and
provide a reasonable accommoda-
tion,” she said.

“Our community is built through
consultation and collaboration to-
gether.”

Robin Holmes, a transgender
student at Langara, brought the is-
sue to The Voices attention last week,
and said he’s looking forward to
collaborating with the school and is
looking forward to bringing more
awareness to students about this
topic.

“T really want more people to be
aware of this issue,” he said.

Students unaware of LSU perks

| SU staff look to
maintain benefits
and wages in
new agreement

By PERRIN GRAUVER

,

he Langara Students
Union's collective agree-
ment with CUPE 15 -

which comes up for renewal at the
end of November - would secure its
current staff a wage of more than
$35 per hour.

The LSU said it was unable to
provide details of the new agree-
ment and CUPE couldn't respond
this week. Currently, LSU staff an-
nually receive 23 paid holidays off,
plus three weeks’ paid vacation in
their first year of employment. Af-
ter four years with LSU, staff re-

ceive five weeks’ paid vacation.

Student union staff at Camosun
and Douglas colleges get similar
benefits. Kwantlen's student associ-
ation managers have similar wages
to LSU's.

LSU staff can accumulate up to
200 paid sick days and receive ex-
tended medical benefits for them-
selves, their spouses and depen-
dents.

‘This is paid for by Langara stu-
dents. Details of the new agree-
ment have not yet been disclosed.

The LSU held a referendum to
increase student fees in June when
there were fewer students on cam-
pus. While the referendum was
approved during the summer, the
LSU Media Committee said only
part of the total approved increase
will be invoked, amounting to
$6.55 per credit, per student.

With more than 21,000 students
attending Langara as of 2015, this

increase works out to a minimum

$137,550 per credit, per term.

In an emailed statement, the
LSU said the funds would be used
“to expand the LSU building, ad-
vocacy initiatives, bursaries and
scholarships for LSU members, and
provide the students of Langara a
much more active and fun Student
Union Building.”

Some students have questions
about where their fees are going.
Gurlal Singh, member of Langara’s
Student Education Council, said he
and his friends can't point to any-
thing the LSU provides outside of
Compass cards and healthcare.

“The thing is, P’'ve never even seen
anyone who has been helped by
LSU,” Singh said.

Another Langara student, who
wished to remain anonymous for
family reasons, said “I think we're
very uninformed about how [LSU]
works and where payment goes,”
but felt “it would be nice to know
what their primary job is.”

Staff annually receive 23 paid
holidays off and three weeks paid
vacation in their first year.

Staff recieve extended medical
benefits for themselves, thier
spouses and dependents.

The current collective agreement
secures staff a $35 an hour wage.

The agreement expires on Nov.
30, 2017.

SOURCE: COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT
BETWEEN THE LSU AND CUPE-15

Too few
Mac labs
across
campus

Classrooms and Mac

labs getting tougher

to book for instructors

and club organizers
By LINDSEY LLOYD

ack of classroom and Mac
L Lab space at Langara Col-

lege has become a growing
issue with instructors, and students
are feeling the repercussions.

Darren Bernaerdt, program co-
ordinator of Langara’s publishing
department, said one of the drop-
in Mac labs they use in Building A
has filled up quicker on a weekly
basis. Over the last five years, his
class has lost 14 hours per week in
the lab, which Bernaerdt said nega-
tively impacts the development of
his students.

“T think for those students that
want to strive for the very best,
and want to put in the extra time,
it means it's difficult to get that,”
Bernaerdt said.

Founder and president of Lan-
gara’s yoga club, Rosi Hunter, can-
celled classes this semester because
of the lack of appropriate space
available.

Hunter said she’s frustrated be-
cause there are over 400 students
on her email list that are very in-
terested in the club, but she cannot
build a consistent routine for mem-
bers because they don't have an es-
tablished classroom.

“We can't build that routine and
that’s of course directly linked to
not getting a room,” Hunter said.

Dr. Ian Humphreys, provost
and vice-president academic and
students, acknowledges that there
is a lack of extra space on campus
caused by the rising student popu-
lation and the increase in programs
using computers.

“(The administration] are re-
opening the campus master plan to
explore the possibility of expanding
facilities both on main campus and
acquiring facilities off campus that
would allow us to continue to grow,
but they are long term solutions to
what is a fairly immediate prob-
lem,” Humphreys said.

A short-term solution, in regards
to Mac lab space, would be incor-
porating the cost of laptops into
program fees or having students
purchase a laptop as part of their
program, Humphreys said.

Bernaerdt doesn’t see this as a so-
lution because it the program fees
might become to high for potential
students.

“You don’t increase [the number
of students] and then figure out
where to put people,” Bernaerdt
said.

Students working in Room A110.
LINDSEY LLOYD PHOTO