Last week, the Ontario government announced that it will offer free feminine hygiene products in schools after a three-year deal was made with Shoppers Drug Mart.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce says the government will distribute roughly six million free menstrual products each year to all 72 school boards across Ontario, starting this current school year in the late fall.
“Menstrual products are of course a necessity, not a luxury,” says Lecce. “For women and girls, ensuring that they have access to these products is key for their health and participation within the school.”
However, school boards across Ontario have already implemented these free feminine hygiene products within their local districts. In August of 2019, the Toronto District School Board started providing free menstrual products to students in both elementary and secondary institutions in order to combat what one trustee called “period poverty.”
Earlier that year, the Waterloo District School Board announced that products such as pads and tampons would be available in all schools and education centres.
British Columbia was the first province to provide free menstrual products to students in public schools back in 2019.
Lecce says Ontario is joining other provinces, like British Columbia, as well as Nova Scotia and P.E.I to tackle the same period poverty within the school system.
“The reality is that some students cannot afford or access them [menstrual products] and this creates barriers.”
The government said that according to a survey by Plan International Canada, 63 per cent of women and girls have regularly or occasionally missed an activity because of concerns about accessible menstrual products. Indicating another 34 per cent have had to sacrifice something in order to afford these needed products.
Over the next three years, Shoppers Drug Mart will donate 18 million menstrual products and 1,200 dispensers, according to the recent deal made with the Ontario government.
Pads will be the first products made available to students, but Lecce says an evaluation of student feedback will be conducted to determine if other feminine hygiene products, such as tampons, should be added.
Lecce says that it will be up to the school boards to determine who the products will be distributed to based on local needs.
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