The B.C. government will also fund a pilot project on helping poor people have access to menstrual products.

The B.C. government has announced that all schools will provide students with free pads and tampons in washrooms, following a growing call for equal access to menstrual products.

By the end of 2019, all 60 of B.C.’s school districts will be required to provide free menstrual products for students, said Mitzi Dean, parliamentary secretary for gender equity, at a news conference in Vancouver on Friday.

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Photo by Jason Payne / PNG

To help the school boards, the province said it will provide $300,000 in startup costs, and then the program will continue to be funded by the government on an annual basis. The amount will be worked out in the coming months after discussions with the school boards.

Dean said one in seven students misses school because she doesn’t have access to or can’t afford menstrual products, and students feel uncomfortable asking for them from teachers or school health-providers.

“Having your period is a part of life, and easy and affordable access to menstrual products should be simple,” said Dean.

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Dean said the province, which has partnered with the United Way and Blue Cross on the Period Promise campaign, will also provide a one-time grant of $95,000 to support the United Way in a pilot project to improve access for poor people having trouble accessing the products.

At the news conference, Education Minister Rob Fleming said free menstrual products in schools are something that should have been a basic right and should have been provided “a long time ago.” He added that period poverty is a critical issue that he is pleased to see being addressed by government.

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In issuing the order, Fleming said it’s time to normalize and equalize access to menstrual products in schools, helping to create a better learning environment for students.

“Students should never have to miss school, extracurricular, sports or social activities because they can’t afford or don’t have access to menstrual products,” said Fleming. “This is a common-sense step forward that is, frankly, long overdue. We look forward to working with school districts and communities to make sure students get the access they need with no stigma and no barriers.”

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Shane Simpson, B.C. Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, said the cost and availability of pads and tampons is a real concern for those who are poor and often face the choice of purchasing those products or buying other essentials like food.

“I encourage other organizations to join our government in supporting the Period Promise campaign, to help end the stigma that causes social isolation, and begin to address that larger issue around affordability,” said Simpson at the news conference.

Earlier this month, Surrey school trustees debated whether to provide free tampons and pads to girls in school washrooms, after the New Westminster school district’s unanimous approval in February of new machines in washrooms at elementary, middle and secondary schools.

New West said it believed it was one of the first districts in Canada to make the items free in every school.

Surrey currently has some coin-operated vending machines in washrooms for tampons and pads. It also, like many other school districts, provides those products for free if students ask office or counselling staff.

Vancouver mom Selina Tribe recently launched a campaign to make pads and tampons freely available to students at school. Up to now, students had to seek out and ask a counsellor, nurse or administrator for the products.

With the support of the principal, Tribe paid out of her own pocket to have a dispenser installed at her daughter’s school, Sir John Franklin Elementary in Vancouver.

— With files from Randy Shore, Rob Shaw and The Canadian Press