A Vancouver-area school district will soon become one of the first in Canada to provide its female students with free tampons and pads.

Trustees with School District No. 40 in New Westminster, B.C., voted unanimously Tuesday to supply feminine hygiene products in all girls’ and universal washrooms in its elementary and high schools starting in September.

“It really is a common-sense move for us and one of those pieces that just hasn’t been normalized for so long,” school board chair Mark Gifford told CTV Vancouver.

While tampons and pads are sometimes available in other public washrooms, schools have been slower to bring them in. The largest school board in London, Ont., started placing them in high school washrooms last fall.

Credit for the decision in New Westminster is being given to Selina Tribe, who started lobbying various B.C. school boards to provide the products for free after discovering that her daughter’s school did not offer tampons.

“This is a decisive victory for my work and for girls and women around the province,” Tribe told CTV Vancouver.

“This is the first school board and I hope that many more will follow.”

Trustees in New Westminster also voted Tuesday to push the province to fund a B.C.-wide effort to make feminine hygiene products freely available in schools. Tribe is also hoping the province will require schools to provide the products.

B.C. Education Minister Rob Fleming told CTV Vancouver that the province would take a “wait and see” approach on the issue.