McGill med students launch campaign to get free menstrual products in Quebec schools - Action News
Home WebMail Friday, November 22, 2024, 06:39 PM | Calgary | -11.5°C | Regions Advertise Login | Our platform is in maintenance mode. Some URLs may not be available. |
Montreal

McGill med students launch campaign to get free menstrual products in Quebec schools

Should menstrual hygiene products be available to primary and high school students for free in Quebec schools? Three medical students from McGill University think so and they're lobbying the provincial government to make it happen

If Quebec decides to act on the proposal, it would be following in British Columbia's footsteps

Ariane Litalien (left), Carolanne Gagnon (middle) and Alicia Lessard are asking the Quebec government to provide free menstrual hygiene products in schools. (Isaac Olson/CBC)

Should menstrual hygiene products be available to primary and high school students for free in Quebec schools?

Three medical students from McGill University Carolanne Gagnon, Alicia LessardandAriane Litalien think so and they're lobbying the provincial government to make it happen.

Litalien, who is a medical student, saidasignificant number of Canadian girls have missed school because they don't have menstrual hygiene products.

Last week,Litalien submitteda petition to the National Assembly that demandedfree menstrual products be offered in Quebec schools. It has gathered around 150 signatures so far.

"This equalizes the playing field for everyone. Nobody should have to miss school because they can't access those products," she told CBC's Daybreak.

A similar initiative was passed recently in British Columbia. Schools in the province will have to offer the free products by the end of the year.

Federally regulated workplaces could also be forced to offerfree menstrual products, under a measure currentlybeing considered by Ottawa.

Menstrual products are expensive, advocate says

"We're talking about tampons. We're talking about pads," said Litalien.

"But we're also asking the government to subsidize reusable menstrual products, such as menstrual cups and reusable pads, because we want to be environmentally friendly."

Subsidized reusable menstrual products arenot a new concept. Several Montreal boroughs already offer this service to residents, as do other municipalities in the province.

Litalien said the disposable products would, ideally, be available in school bathrooms belonging to both sexes, allowingtransgender and non-binary people to have access.

Boxes of tampons and pads sit on the shelf in a 2019 file photo
Menstrual products are costly, advocates say, and not everybody can afford them. (Mike Stewart/Associated Press)

Offering free hygiene products, she said, will not only balance out inequalities betweenmen and people who menstruate, but it will alsoreduce"period poverty."

That's the term used to describebeing unable to affordhygiene products. Litalien said period poverty forces many to miss school or work, and they get fewer opportunities to succeed as a result.

"Tampons are definitely expensive.It's something you have to buy every month," she said. "Certainly a segment of the population can't afford it."

With files from CBC Montreal's Daybreak