Girls' overflow change room at the Ridgetown arena. December 18, 2017. (Photo by Sarah Cowan Blackburn News Chatham-Kent). Girls' overflow change room at the Ridgetown arena. December 18, 2017. (Photo by Sarah Cowan Blackburn News Chatham-Kent).
Chatham

Equality, Safety Concerns Raised At Ridgetown Arena

There's a battle brewing in Ridgetown over the girls' dressing room at the East Kent Memorial Arena.

The issue started when the room the girls formerly changed in was renovated and leased to a Chatham-Kent Cyclones AAA hockey team, forcing the girls out.

South Kent Minor Hockey president Shawn Allen says the first solution Chatham-Kent Facility Services staff came up with was to have the girls change in a makeshift room in the front stairwell of the arena that opens directly off the lobby. However, the girls were later moved to an accessible washroom that has been converted into a dressing room after members of the public raised concerns about privacy for the players.

One of the biggest concerns about the room in the stairwell was that when the door was opened to allow another girl to enter, "half the room was visible to members of the public in the lobby, and notably by men leaving the men's room which is located approximately 10 ft away," according to a release from Allen.

Since the most recent move to the modified accessible washroom, South Kent Minor Hockey officials are still raising a number of concerns, including the fact that the washroom where the girls are now changing is in a public area and doesn't include a shower.

Girls' overflow change room at the Ridgetown arena. December 18, 2017. (Photo by Sarah Cowan Blackburn News Chatham-Kent). Girls' overflow change room at the Ridgetown arena. December 18, 2017. (Photo by Sarah Cowan Blackburn News Chatham-Kent).

By contrast, the boys' dressing rooms at the arena are fully equipped with benches, hooks, washrooms, and a shower. The boys' rooms are also located in a low-traffic area of the arena where members of the public who are not affiliated with the teams do not generally enter. That's not the case with the current girls' dressing room, which is located in a different section of the arena.

Boys' change room at the Ridgetown arena. December 18, 2017. (Photo by Sarah Cowan Blackburn News Chatham-Kent). Boys' change room at the Ridgetown arena. December 18, 2017. (Photo by Sarah Cowan Blackburn News Chatham-Kent).

"We had an instance where a midget player, a girl, got into a scuffle on the ice, got thrown out, had to walk through the lobby and had a lineup of people waiting for her," says Allen. "If the [girls' dressing room] was off to where it was, that wouldn't have happened because there's no access for parents to go back there."

Allen says having the girls' dressing room away from the boys' room also segregates the girls off to an area away from the rest of their teammates. He says it is the board's position that "the room currently used by female players is neither adequate nor appropriate" and "is also extremely inequitable." He says the board has received complaints from players, parents, and coaches regarding the situation.

"We've had complaints from outside the area coming in that say the change room situation just isn't working right now," says Allen. "They're not prepared to come back to South Kent until we come up with a solution."

The board is now requesting that the municipality "reinstate access to the original girls' dressing room by parties who rent the ice at East Kent Memorial Arena in order to restore safety, security, dignity and equality to all female players."

On the other side of the argument, municipal officials say they do have plans in place to convert one of the rooms at the arena -- the former skate sharpening room -- into a permanent girls' change room that will be complete with a shower, a toilet, and a sink.

Supervisor of Recreation Facilities for the Ridgetown District Darren Goyette says he doesn't know exactly how long that'll take, but expects it to wrap up soon.

"Because of the dollars involved, we have to prepare a report for council so that they can approve the funds for the project," says Goyette. "I have quotes in here, it's just a matter of getting that report through to council... it'll be first thing in January."

When it comes to privacy concerns, Goyette says arena staff didn't think that would be a big issue.

"OMHA dictates that coaches are supposed to supervise their rooms," says Goyette. "There's a deadbolt on the inside of the room, too, so if someone wanted complete privacy, they could do that."

Goyette says the room that the girls are changing in right now was supposed to be completed in September, but they had some setbacks with products being delayed in getting to municipal officials and by the time the products did arrive, their contractor had a scheduling conflict. He says those delays are the reason arena staff had to make arrangements to set up a temporary dressing room in the front stairwell.

Read More Local Stories