Who cares where you pee?

The small picture of a black toilet on a white background above the word "washroom" has become a big sign of inclusion for a rural school district in Saskatchewan.

Prairie Valley School Division, near Regina, has created all-gender washrooms at all of its facilities, including elementary schools.

Director of education Ben Grebinski says it was important to include elementary schools because transgender children of all ages need support from educators.

"You can't differentiate between a five-year-old and a 17-year-old. When you become familiar and aware of their preference, you have to be able to accommodate that preference," Grebinski says.

The division spent a year creating a diversity policy. There was no human rights complaint to force action. Parents were consulted on the policy.

"There was a little bit of opposition in certain circumstances because people felt kind of uncomfortable with this," says Grebinski.

"And what we found was that as soon as people became aware of the purpose and our intent here was to just provide humanity, with an opportunity to be expressive and to be who they were on an individual basis without any kind of alienation, people were very willing and accepting, so frankly we didn't have any challenges or issues."

Dr. Kristopher Wells, an assistant professor with the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services at the University of Alberta, says elementary schools are becoming the new front lines as parents seek support for their transitioning children.

"It's now not uncommon to be working to support transgender youth as young as six or seven," Wells says. "Ultimately, it comes down to issues of safety and inclusion in schools and if students don't feel safe and they don't feel included, they're not going to be able to learn."

Dale Burgos knows the challenges transgender children face.

His transgender daughter, Bella, wasn't allowed to use the girls' washroom at her Winnipeg school when she was eight. There was a gender neutral washroom, but Bella didn't want to be forced to use it.

"Bella, by using a special bathroom, essentially felt like she was being outed or that she was different and that's not how you want to feel ... and she felt like 'Why do I need to use a special bathroom?'" says Burgos.

Burgos is working for a school district in British Columbia now and says all the schools there have signs that say "this bathroom is for anyone."

"It starts with bathrooms, but there's so much more to it," he said.