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