Burnaby's chief librarian said the library should have done better addressing the concerns of a local grandmother who reported being "fully exposed" to man in the Metrotown library's new universal washrooms.
Leslie Zenger stopped to the use the washroom at the Bob Prittie branch of the Burnaby Public Library after picking up a book, according to a letter she wrote to city council last month.
After leaving her cubicle, she said she saw another cubicle with the door open and a man standing there with his pants down.
"He turned sideways and fully exposed himself," she wrote.
Zenger said she was "shocked" and her shock and concern have only deepened with time.
"I am still upset, no(t) so much at what I saw, but by the fact that there is no women's only washroom at the Bob Prittie library," she wrote. "No safe washroom for women and little girls."
Zenger said a library manager had told her "This is how they do it in Sweden" and noted the library was equipped with a parent and child washroom.
But Zenger said children go to the washroom on their own, at least by the time they are school aged.
"Does this mean that it is okay for them to be exposed to what I was exposed to?" Zenger said.
Zenger said she isn't opposed to "gender neutral" washrooms but wants the library and other public facilities to have women's only washrooms that are at least as accessible.
"Was the man demented? Was he a pervert?" Zenger asked of the man she encountered in the library washroom. "It makes no difference. This is not a safe space for women and girls who still identify as women and girls."
In a note to council about Zenger's letter, Burnaby's chief librarian, Beth Davies, said Zenger was "understandably very upset about what happened to her."
"The library could and should have done a better job of addressing this incident when it first happened, and in following up," Davies said.
Davies said Zenger continues to be concerned the Metrotown library is not a safe place for her granddaughter and for other young girls to visit.
"Although there are single stall washrooms at Metrotown, she does not believe that young girls would approach library staff for a key to the family washrooms on the first floor, or go out of their way to use the single stall washrooms on the second floor," Davies said. "She also does not believe that additional signage would help. I listened, and advised she had given me a lot to think about."
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