Access to free menstrual products to expand

The B.C. government says it is providing $750,000 to expand access to free menstrual products for people who need them and to help the United Way consider how to end “period poverty.”

Nicholas Simons, the minister of social development and poverty reduction, says half of the people who menstruate in B.C. have struggled to buy the products they need at some point in their lives.

He told a Friday news conference that no one should have to stay home from work or school or choose between hygiene and essentials like food.

Asked about earlier calls for the province to make menstrual products available at locations such as schools, workplaces, pharmacies and government offices, Simons says there's a big difference between having the products available at home and having to access them in public spaces.

He says previous research has shown that limited access to menstrual products means people are likely to stay at home, and the United Way will look at where the most effective locations might be to make products available.

Neal Adolph with the United Way says half of the funding, intended to last for two years, will go to a panel to consider long-term solutions and the other half will support the organization's work to increase access to menstrual products across B.C.

The panel is to provide a final report in March 2024. It will be chaired by Nikki Hill, who has previously worked on a provincially funded research project with the United Way looking at the impacts a lack of access to menstrual products can have on a person's life.

“Before we started some of this work, we had no idea what a common problem it was for people in our communities,” Hill told the news conference.

She says the group will look at creating equity for those people.

Students have had access to free menstrual products in the washrooms of B.C. public schools since 2019, the Ministry of Social Development says.