HALIFAX — The Halifax councillor behind a move to put free menstrual products in municipal facilities says the suggestion to exclude several of the city’s busiest recreation centres is “countering” the inclusive intent of the whole project.

On Tuesday, a staff report prompted by Coun. Lorelei Nicoll’s motion in May asking to explore the option of providing free menstrual products in HRM facilities’ washrooms as a pilot project returns to regional council.

Nicoll’s motion suggested “all community centres, pools and arenas will be stocked with free menstrual products. This would make menstrual products easily accessible and free in HRM-owned community centres, pools, and arenas.”

However, the staff report only recommends that the pilot project go ahead with the installation of menstrual dispensers and disposal containers in 16 “HRM owned and operated facilities for one year.”

The Chief Administrative Officer would then include the pilot project cost in the 2020/2021 operating budget, which is estimated at $271,973 running from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021.

“It doesn’t necessarily say that they’re excluding any, but I know that they are,” Nicoll said in an interview Sunday.

The 16 proposed buildings include the Halifax Oval as well as community centres and arenas around the municipality, but not any “multi-district facility associations,” Nicoll said — one of which is ironically Cole Harbour Place, a major centre in her own district.

According to the 2019-20 budget and business plan, the multi-district facilities with “negotiated updated and consistent” management agreements are Alderney Landing, Canada Games Centre, Centennial Pool, Zatzman Sportsplex, Halifax Forum, and St. Margaret’s Centre.

Besides these centres, 4-pads like the RBC Centre and BMO Centre are also not included in the pilot.

Nicoll said she’s happy to see that the proposed pilot would offer tampons and pads in male and female washrooms as well as gender-neutral ones where available, but is concerned that people who use these products will then be left confused by the patchwork nature of the pilot.

“You’re kind of countering your whole inclusive thing,” she said.

The report states that Recreation and Facilities Management staff can monitor usage throughout the one-year pilot “to determine the need and to advise Regional Council the possibility of expanding the program to include all HRM owned recreation centres, “ but current staff and/or cleaning contractors will be able to fulfil the required tasks.

Each dispenser holds 22 tampons and 15 pads, and staff expect to fill each dispenser once per day.

If money is the issue, Nicoll suggested adjusting the numbers so each facility only has products available in one male, female, and gender-neutral space per building, with easily identifiable markers showing where they are offered.

That way, Nicoll said the money can be spread around to more centres — and places like the Sackville Sports Stadium wouldn’t need to offer products in all 12 bathrooms, which is the current proposal.

Nicoll said if staff’s concern is navigating the different management structure and logistics of getting products into these multi-district facilities, that’s not enough of a reason to exclude them since municipal funds are still going to those buildings.

These multi-district facilities are HRM buildings but operated by volunteer boards under maintenance agreements. Those boards in turn hire general managers that deal with supplies and running the buildings, Nicoll said. Although the Sackville Sports Stadium is also technically a multi-district facility, HRM recently took over its operation, Nicoll noted.

“I figure it’s more about the bureaucracy that they don’t want to go to it, it’s just muddying it,” Nicoll said.

“We should always question bureaucracy.”

Nicoll said she plans to ask staff about the exclusion of the multi-district facilities in council Tuesday, and put forward an amendment widening the scope of the pilot.

To those who would question the project’s price tag, Nicoll said menstrual products are just as necessary as toilet paper and no one has ever batted an eye at those funds.

“It’s a basic human need,” Nicoll said.

Although Coun. Lisa Blackburn said such a project is “long overdue” and she hopes to eventually see all HRM facilities have free menstrual products in the washrooms, the selected 16 buildings are a “good place to start.”

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Blackburn agreed that the exclusion of multi-district facilities was “disappointing,” but said she can understand why. Such a step would involve working with the other facility operators and possibly opening up their agreements, requiring more paperwork.

“At least the motion as it reads right now gets us off and running, and gets the free menstrual products into I would say the vast majority of HRM buildings,” Blackburn said.

In light of this project, Blackburn added she’s hopeful many of the volunteer-run facilities take it upon themselves to provide the products on their own.

The movement to bring free menstrual products into public washrooms across Canada has gained steam in the past few years, the report notes. British Columbia school boards, London, Ont., and various universities across Canada including Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax have taken this step.

This June, Halifax Public Libraries introduced the products in all washrooms, while in September the province announced all Nova Scotia schools (grades four and up) would also be provided universal access.

According to an evidence report on the issue from the Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA), an initiative like this is vital to helping people who menstruate stay healthy even if they aren’t able to regularly afford the products.

Also, period poverty — which the NSHA defines as “inadequate access to affordable menstrual hygiene products” — is being increasingly recognized as a major health issue.

A recent survey of over 2,000 women and girls by Plan International Canada found that 35 per cent have had to sacrifice something else in their budget in order to afford menstrual products.

Someone recently asked Nicoll how much menstrual products might cost a woman on an annual basis, to which she responded it’s hard to say; some people have lights flows and some have heavy flows, while others like to use both a tampon and a backup pad.

Although a few people joked with her about taking such a blunt response, Nicoll said “you can’t remove the stigma unless you just state it as it is.”

The report also said when students can’t access menstrual products it can prevent them from participating in sports or extracurricular activities. Indeed, the Plan International survey said 63 per cent of girls and women reported that they have regularly (12 per cent) or occasionally (51 per cent) had to miss out on an activity because they were concerned about a lack of access to menstrual products.

Nicoll said she’s already gotten various calls from towns and cities in Ontario, including Cambridge, asking her about how she went about getting fellow councillors support for such a motion.

“I think other municipalities would look at it as just strictly the money — and you know women since the beginning of time have been managing their own needs, so why should we get into it now,” Nicoll said with a laugh.

Both Nicoll and Blackburn said having only two women out of the 16 councillors means issues impacting people who menstruate aren’t top of mind for their male colleagues, leaving initiatives like this up to them.

The councillors also both championed a motion for Halifax to create a Women’s Advisory Committee to “support the creation of a gender inclusive municipality and provide advice to Council on matters relevant to the municipal mandate,” which staff has also recommended go ahead. That comes before the Executive Standing Committee on Monday.

It’s “frustrating” that these projects have only been brought forward by the female councillors so far, Blackburn said, but at least work is underway.

“It’s exhausting trying to be the only voice. And we do have a lot of allies around that table,” she said, “but it’s not the first thing that’s on their mind so it’s not certainly the first thing that they try to advocate for. No, we’ll just keep doing the work.”

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