A Port Coquitlam city councillor is calling on her colleagues to back a new policy for free menstrual products at civic facilities.
Coun. Nancy McCurrach gave her notice of motion at Tuesday’s council meeting, for discussion on the Oct. 22 council agenda.
Her motion follows similar moves in Coquitlam and Port Moody as well as School District 43, which is expected to have free tampons and pads in all Tri-City schools by the end of the year as per the education ministry mandate.
Other municipalities around B.C. — including Victoria — have also pledged to offer free hygiene products in their civic buildings.
The province-wide push comes as a result of the United Way’s Period Promise campaign to end “period poverty” for girls and women.
United Way president and CEO Michael McKnight said almost 25% of Canadian women claim they’ve struggled to afford feminine menstrual products for themselves or their daughters.
Coquitlam has started a four-month pilot program to have free menstrual products in washrooms at Town Centre and Mundy parks and at the City Centre Aquatic Complex, Poirier Sport and Leisure Complex and Pinetree community centre.
That pilot program is expected to cost $20,000 to cover the installation of dispensers as well as keeping them stocked. Data and feedback will be collected during the four months to be presented to city council in the new year, when it can consider expansion of the program to all of the city’s 72 women’s and universal washrooms.
McCurrach’s motion asks for PoCo staff to provide a costs and feasibility report. She hopes the three municipalities will be on board by next spring.
“This is a step up from the schools to move into the next level for the communities, which makes sense,” said McCurrach, a mother to three daughters. “It will just lift people out of poverty.”
— with files from reporters Diane Strandberg and Mario Bartel.
Port Coquitlam Coun. Nancy McCurrach
