A heated debate unfolded at a Cambridge city council meeting when Mayor Jan Liggett ordered the removal of Janice Fiaschetti, a concerned Kitchener resident, after she voiced apprehensions about the proposed universal gender-neutral changing area in the city’s new recreation center.
The common spaces of the change room will be fully visible through glass walls, according to blueprints posted by Reduxx on X. This proposal was said to be a way to ensure safety.
The council’s 7-2 vote in favour of the proposal to build the gender-neutral change room for the planned recreation centre came before Fiaschetti raised her concerns.
In the proposed bathroom, men, women, and children would be able to change in front of one another.
The mayor allotted Fiaschetti five minutes to raise her concerns to the council. The mayor seemed eager to hear the Kitchener resident’s thoughts as she smiled and joked about mispronouncing her name.
The Kitchener resident started by raising concerns about young children being in a change room where adults of any gender were able to change and be naked.
She asked the councillors whether any could guarantee that children would be safe in these areas, though she left no time for a response. She continued by saying that she had contacted the architects of MJMA Architecture & Design, who informed her that cubicles would be included in an otherwise open change room. Fiaschetti said that these were also known as “grooming cubicles.”
From her understanding, she said grooming cubicles have high walls, showers, and doors that can be locked for privacy.
“What if those same grooming cubicles allow the opportunistic individual to have contact with a vulnerable young child? Let us not be naïve. Our children are exposed to people who do not have their best interest in mind,” said Fiaschetti.
She continued with her allotted time for speech and began describing the process of grooming children.
Fiaschetti was almost immediately interrupted by the city’s mayor, who seemed to begin to get uncomfortable.
“I’m going to ask you to stop now because you’re going in a direction that is not allowed here,” said the mayor.
Fiaschetti agreed and said that she would redirect her speech.
“I’m just explaining the process, which you probably, you’re offering opportunities…”
She was interrupted once more by the mayor.
“That has nothing to do with this facility,” said Liggett.
The concerned citizen argued that it did, considering these were the very plans for the facility. She was promptly ordered to sit down by the mayor, who called for security.
They continued to argue for several minutes, but Fiaschetti’s microphone was muted, so little could be understood.
“You’re finished,” the mayor repeated numerous times.
Fiaschetti was then removed from the room.
Despite the controversy, Councillor Scott Hamilton moved the motion because the planned rec centre is set to be built within his jurisdiction, according to CBC.
He said that he felt the fears were misplaced and inaccurate.
“You can’t see the floor. You can’t have someone look over the ceiling. You can’t have someone stare through the crack and there’s lights on top of the doors,” he said.
Construction on the project, valued at $108.4 million, is scheduled to start this summer, with the facility expected to open its doors to the public in September 2026.
