Keep free pads and tampons in schools, student trustee tells education minister

It's unclear if funding for free menstrual products in publicly-funded Ontario schools will continue after this year, a student trustee who has advocated for period equity says. 

Savrup Saran, a Grade 12 student at Woodstock Collegiate Institute, is calling on trustees to urge education minister Stephen Lecce to continue funding the free pads and tampons. 

"If we don't have these products available, it can create a toll for students who menstruate," Saran said.

"It's very inequitable, and there's a lot of barriers that surround it when we're not able to provide products that are of quality — that are constantly there —and are being distributed in a way that students can easily get them." 

Menstrual products should be as available as soap and toilet paper in school bathrooms, she added. 

In 2021, the province announced a three-year partnership with Shoppers Drug Mart, which was to provide six million menstrual products every year, to be distributed to school boards across Ontario. 

"Through the strong advocacy of young leaders in our schools, it has become extremely clear that menstrual products are a necessity, not a luxury," Lecce said at the time.

Partnership future unclear

"This agreement will help remove barriers for women and girls by allowing them to access products at school, free of charge. It is another important way that we are helping to build more inclusive schools that empower all girls to have the confidence to succeed."

But that partnership expires after this school year, with no news about whether it will be renewed or if the province will continue funding mensural products in a different way. 

"This year we haven't received any communication about whether it will continue or if we'll be getting some other stream or funding or different implementation, or if it's up to boards to fund it now," Saran said. "Board budgets are already difficult, given all the things boards have to do and think about in terms of their students and the well-being of their students." 

Without access to period products, some students miss school, she said. Prior to the provincial pilot project, Thames Valley District School Board paid to put menstrual products in all school bathrooms. The provincial partnership ensured that was done across all schools, everywhere in the province. 

"It used to depend on the board. I'm calling on the ministry to continue the funding and maybe even look at different ways of mandating these products," Saran said. 

Information about the future of the partnership that provided free menstrual products in school is not yet available.