Stopping the flow: Northern Manitobans call for more restrooms along Highway 6
CBC
People in northern Manitoba say they're fed up with not having enough spots on Highway 6 to go to the bathroom —which they say is not only an inconvenience, but a health and safety issue along the province's important north-south corridor.
"I've travelled from here to Thompson and there is nothing there," said Veronica Dick, who lives in Grand Rapids — about 330 kilometres south of Thompson down Highway 6.
"You have to go into the bush. You get pricked by all kinds of leaves and you get scared of the wolves."
Dick works as a janitor at Pelican Landing Gas Station & Restaurant, which has the only 24-hour bathroom on the highway between St. Martin, in Manitoba's Interlake, and Thompson — a drive of more than 500 kilometres.
"Cleanest bathrooms on Highway 6," she said with a laugh.
Dick says the gas station is busy around the clock, with regular lineups outside the washrooms.
"You know those big rolls of toilet paper? We go through two a day [per stall]," she said.
"So I always come back in the evening. I do six hours during the day and I come back for another two more hours at night because it just needs me."
Many of the people passing through the Pelican Landing station travel for work, like Ted Labelle, who was surprised to learn about the shortage of public toilets up north.
"I guess it would depend on the nature of the emergency," he said with a chuckle.
"I'm not the kind of guy that's scared to pull over on the side of the road and find a ditch, but I guess it's not for everybody."
Those ditches can be an obstacle for families like Brian Trewin's, who stopped at the gas station on their way home to Leaf Rapids, a drive of about 550 kilometres to the north from Grand Rapids.
They'd already stopped twice to relieve themselves along the highway on their way up from Winnipeg and didn't enjoy the experience.
"The sides of the ditch are steep, or there'll be lots of shrubs," said Trewin. "For older people or women, they have a lot more difficulty."
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