Ontario students and youth advocacy groups are calling for free menstrual products at post-secondary campuses across the province.
Danielle Kaftarian is the operations manager at The Period Purse, one of the groups to sign a letter to the province today.
She told Humber News that many people need additional support when it comes to menstrual products because of a financial gap, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s not uncommon for people to get caught needing an extra pad or a tampon maybe their period came unexpectedly or they miss packing one in their bags. So just to have access to that would be really helpful to students,” said Kaftarian.
The goal of the initiative is to promote menstrual equality in Ontario schools and fight period poverty.
“There should be no stigma around something as fundamental as menstruation. Menstrual products are a necessity and not a luxury,” the letter stated.
It was addressed to politicians including Premier Doug Ford, Education Minister Stephen Lecce, and all 72 school boards.
Last October, the province announced a plan to provide free menstrual products in Ontario high schools, but Kaftarian says “that still hasn’t been delivered, yet. There are some gaps there that still need to occur.”
The letter cites a 2019 study by Plan International Canada that suggests one-third of Canadian women under the age of 25 struggle to afford menstrual products. The report also states ” 83% say they feel their period prevents them from fully participating in activities, while 70% say they have missed school or work or have withdrawn from fully participating in social activities because of their period.”
The letter acknowledged that the report didn’t include the experiences of trans men and gender non-binary people, and added no woman, girl, trans man or non-binary person should have to worry about inadequate access to menstrual products.
Kaftarian said that taking a step forward to acknowledging this gap in the system and calling it out is the first step to finding a solution and it will bring more people toward it to advocate.
Humber College is one of the post-secondary institutions in Ontario that currently has the initiative in place and has offered free products since 2017.
A business management student at Humber College North Campus, Kiranjot Kaur says it’s important for the college to do so.
“Sometimes some people can’t afford to buy them and maybe sometimes, this thing can happen all of a sudden when you are not prepared for. So if you have all these products in the college area, everyone will feel more comfortable using them and they wouldn’t need to worry about not being prepared,” Kaur said.
“I feel like it’s a good initiative to have this in every institute in Ontario so that it’ll help more people to have these products ready on their hands … they shouldn’t be worried about asking other people,” she said.