Accessibility

The Centre for Gender Advocacy has 2 offices:

2110 Mackay

The office at 2110 Mackay is located on the ground floor. There is a ramp outside leading to the front door that is suitable for use with wheelchairs and other mobility aids, however the front door itself is not automated. The front door is 31” / 78 cm and it is the narrowest door in the office. Please ring the doorbell located to the right of the door to have someone open it for you. Once inside, the space is wheelchair accessible.

There is a large gender-neutral washroom measuring 9’5” x 6’11” / 2.87 m x 2.10 m with 2 grab bars next to the toilet (one behind, one to the right of the toilet).

1500 de Maisonneuve West, Suite 404

The office at 1500 de Maisonneuve West, Suite 404 is located on the 4th floor. The elevator door is 41” / 104 cm wide. The door to our office is 30.5” / 77 cm wide and is the narrowest door in our building. The front door is somewhat heavy and not automated. There is a ramp outside leading to the front door, however most wheelchair users find it to be too steep to use (10.8% grade) — especially in rainy or icy weather although some find it too steep even under ideal weather conditions. If you feel comfortable using the ramp and would like some assistance, please let us know and staff or volunteers will be available to help. If you would like an event or meeting to take place in another more accessible location, please let us know and we will do our best to make that happen.

The doors on both the “men’s” and “women’s” washrooms are not automated. The doors are 30.5” / 77 cm wide, are somewhat heavy, and require a key to open. In addition, only one of them – the washroom designated as the “women’s” washroom – has a larger stall that may be accessible for wheelchairs and that has one grab bar to the left of the toilet. The door to this larger stall is 30.5” / 77 cm wide. The stall dimensions are 68” x 58” / 1.72 m x 1.47 m.

Since we share the floor with a business, we have not been able to successfully create gender-neutral washrooms even temporarily during events. Space users are of course welcome to use whichever washroom they want, but we realize this is not the same as having washrooms that are actually gender-neutral.

Parking

The closest parking space designated as an accessible parking space – meaning that you must have the blue and white parking permit with the symbol of a person in a wheelchair issued by the SAAQ – is located on the east side of Mackay Street between de Maisonneuve and Sainte-Catherine. It is parking space C607.

Here is a list of other parking spaces in the downtown that are reserved for people who have the blue-and-white parking permit (link will open in separate tab).

It is also possible to park in the alleyway between the building (1500 de Maisonneuve West) and the adjacent building to the west (1550 de Maisonneuve West, Concordia’s GM building), however this is not an official parking spot and vehicles cannot stay there for long. People who have the disabled parking permit (and sticker) are permitted to park in no-parking zones and parking zones reserved for residents for a maximum of 60 minutes.

Centre for Gender Advocacy Events

We are committed to hosting our off-site events in venues that are wheelchair-accessible.

Signed Interpretation

We can organize ASL or LSQ interpretation when notified in advance.

Financial Accessibility

All of our events are free. Donations are welcome.

We do not currently offer metro or bus tickets on a consistent basis, but we can provide them upon request, and can help to subsidize adapted transportation to and from our space and our events.

Accessibility Audit

The Centre for Gender Advocacy has recently undergone an accessibility audit. We are currently working on implementing the recommendations arising from the audit and will publish a summary of the report shortly.