Banff’s rec centre might do away with locker rooms, create universal change room

The Town of Banff is eyeing changes to its recreation centre dressing rooms in an effort to make them more inclusive and safer.

A proposal to create universal dressing rooms at a Banff rec centre is causing conflict in the mountain community.

The town started seeking public engagement on the future of The Fenlands Banff Recreation Centre back in 2021, and is now working with architects to upgrade the building’s arenas.

One of the proposed changes includes separating dressing rooms from washrooms and showers in an effort to create a more inclusive environment.

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Instead of users stripping down in a dressing room, they’d do so in separate changing stalls, then exit and cross the hall into a communal “team room” featuring glass windows.

Similarly, if users wanted to shower, they would be able to in a private shower stall, separate from the team room.

Amanda Arbuckle, the Town of Banff’s manager of recreation services, says the hope is the proposed changes would create transparency, and thus a safer space for kids to engage in sport.

“What we really looked at was just separating that team space – that space where a team can get together and have a team talk with their coach and have that camaraderie -- from the space that they change and showered,” said Arbuckle.

“Trying to provide more equity in the sport and hopefully grow the sport and grow more participation from diverse populations.”

Arbuckle says public feedback on the future of the Fenlands indicated inclusive and accessible spaces at the facility were a big priority.

“We heard in our annual user surveys that some people did not feel that they had a safe… an inclusive space for them to get changed,” she said.

In 2023, Hockey Canada rolled out new polices to provide children with “a right to access safe, inclusive, and equitable dressing spaces.”

It instituted the Minimum Attire Rule – requiring participants to arrive at arenas wearing a base layer (like shorts and t-shirt, compression shorts and shirt or sports bra).

Those who don’t are asked to change in separate bathroom or a dressing room in private.

Arbuckle said having a glass window means the team rooms will function in a similar way as a classroom at school, which has some viewability.

“We have volunteer parents who are coaches, and we want to think about their safety too in a room with young people, and we want to avoid those bullying and harassment cases that have occurred in Hockey Canada’s world,” said Arbuckle.

“We just want to make sure there’s adequate supervision and make sure that the kids have a safe environment to be in.”

Mike Haska, a spokesperson for the Calgary Inclusive Hockey Association (CIHA), says it’s interesting to see the new ways in which communities are trying to make hockey more inclusive.

“From our perspective, we have different genders on our teams and people with different comfort levels of undressing in front of their teammates, and I think this design provides a bit of an accommodation where they can have the privacy to undress and change and get ready for the game – but also it still provides that team environment, that team space in the dressing room where before a game, after a game, you can debrief, you can build that social connection amongst the team – which is really into the sport of hockey.”

‘Safe place to bond’

The concept has drawn some negative feedback from people who use the arenas.

Aliscia Morin has a son and daughter in Banff Minor Hockey.

“My son now showers after hockey practices and games and could be beside a younger child... I sort of think about that difference of my 14–15-year-old child and then there is an 11-year-old-girl trying to get in the shower stall right beside him,” said Morin.

“The team rooms would have windows in there, and yes windows would be fine, but not all the way through.”

Kyler Brierley currently plays hockey a few nights a week and will have his son playing in Banff Minor Hockey this fall.

“I don’t think anyone should have the right to see boys or girls in various stages of undress. So the idea of windows in lost on me,” said Brierley. “The dressing room has always been a safe place to bond with guys, and at the beginning of each year – I’ve coached many years – you see teams come together and gel in that private space.”

“The dressing room has always been a safe place to bond with guys, and at the beginning of each year – I’ve coached many years – and you see teams come together and gel in that private space.”

“I think these design changes around the location for the dressing room stalls or the showers create a host of problems, privacy concerns being one, health and safety being another, it’s guaranteed you’re going to have situations where guys are coming and walking straight across from the shower to the (team room).”

The town hosted a public engagement open house on Wednesday where it heard from residents.

“I think what’s interesting to consider is 10 years ago in an aquatics facility, there wasn’t a thing called universal change rooms. Pretty much every aquatic facility you go to across Canada now, this this is what you see and the same rationale has been applied to that,” Arbuckle said.

“I think more and more we’re going to see universal (rooms) apply, because we need to make sure everyone has a right to access public spaces and to safely use those spaces as well.”

Arbuckle says the town will take the public’s feedback into account and apply it where it can make sense into the design, bringing it forward to town council in the fall.

According to the town, “The construction costs just for the team room/shower/toilet areas for the two arenas was estimated at about $2.4 million.”