Starting Friday, all federally regulated employers, including the federal civil service, government-owned businesses, banks, airports, and rail yards, will be required to provide free menstrual products in all employee washrooms. be.
Changes to the Canada Labor Code announced in May 2023 will require free tampons and menstrual napkins in washrooms at these workplaces and covered waste receptacles in all restroom stalls from December 15th. was required to be installed.
Products are intended for use by employees and not by the general public.
Rachel Oettinger started a petition calling for this in 2020, which was eventually introduced in the House of Commons by her MPs.
“We have to look at menstrual products as necessities, just like toilet paper,” Ettinger says. “If you don’t provide menstrual products, you can’t provide a truly inclusive space for your employees.”
Oettinger is the founder of Here For Her, a social enterprise focused on health education across Canada. She worked with other organizations to provide the government with recommendations on this move.
WATCH | One of the people driving this change is:
Following changes to the Canada Labor Act announced earlier this year, starting Dec. 15, all federally regulated employers will be required to provide free menstrual products in employee washrooms. Rachel Ettinger, who started the petition in the House of Representatives calling for this requirement, said this is a step forward for menstrual equity.
Another group is Period Packs, an Ottawa-based nonprofit.
“It makes a big difference that it’s always there, and you don’t have to carry it around everywhere, whether it’s at the bottom of your wallet, at the bottom of your school bag, in your pocket,” he said. Megan White.
White said providing free tampons and pads to employees also creates a more fair working environment.
“It’s not appropriate to ask employees to leave work during their lunch break, when they should be resting, to go find sanitary products,” she said.
“When you get your period and there’s no way to manage it, it can be significantly isolating,” White added. “Managing your period essentially requires using toilet paper and other inappropriate methods.”
All washrooms included
One of the recommendations that is now mandatory is to install menstrual product dispensers and waste containers in all washrooms.
“It’s not just women or people who identify as women who menstruate,” Ettinger says. “Trans men, gender nonconforming people, and bispiritual people menstruate as well. Everyone who menstruates has the right to menstruate with dignity.”
Some critics have taken to social media to slam the sale of menstrual products in men’s washrooms, but Meghan White says limiting the use of menstrual products to women’s washrooms would help all menstrual products pointed out that people would be forced to go to the women’s washroom.
“You can’t ask people to be self-aware in the workplace,” White says. “Why not accommodate everyone if possible? Why not set the highest standards as a federally regulated institution?”
Advocates point out that placing a basket with a few individually wrapped tampons and pads somewhere in the bathroom is sufficient, and that each stall’s waste bin could also accept incontinence pads. ing.
Expect delays
Even though the labor law changes were announced seven months ago, many affected employers have yet to install dispensers or waste receptacles, said Citron Hygiene’s Canadian marketing director. .
Krista Pruwes said most federal departments and state-owned enterprises likely got that word from above, but she’s not sure it applies to federally regulated institutions like banks and airports. Ta.
“We’ve certainly talked to a lot of customers who weren’t prepared because they didn’t know about this, so I think we need to do more communication,” Pleuse said.
The company’s most popular menstrual product dispenser is the Aunt Flow series of machines, developed in the United States.
Plewes said her company, which is the exclusive Canadian distributor for Aunt Flow dispensers, is ready to meet the surge in demand as more facility managers become aware of the new requirements. However, this may not apply to the hygiene industry as a whole.
Regarding concerns about theft, she added that a recent survey conducted by her company showed that the majority of respondents only take as many pads or tampons as they need at that moment.
“I don’t see anyone stealing toilet paper, so why would anyone steal toilet paper?” Pruwes asked. “The more we can normalize free products, the better the lives of people with menstrual disorders around the world.”
“This is a question of inclusivity.”
Canada’s employment and social development We have posted a guide on the changes on our website.
In response to a request for comment from CBC, the ministry sent an email stating that employees should report all situations in which they believe they violate labor laws to their employers using the internal grievance resolution process on the ministry’s website. He said it needed to be reported.
The ministry also said that financing the purchase of menstrual products and disposable containers is the sole responsibility of each employer.
In an email to CBC, Public Services and Procurement Canada, which accounts for about a quarter of the federal government’s building and office inventory and manages more than 8,600 washrooms across the country, said in an email to CBC that it is offering support to federal employers. He said that he is working diligently to implement this policy. Initiative.
While the launch may not be smooth, it’s important to not lose sight of the big picture, Here for Her’s Ettinger said.
“As an activist, I really hope this has a domino effect for other public sector businesses and schools, and of course the private sector to jump on board and recognize that this is an issue of inclusivity. ”
Federal Labor Minister Seamus O’Regan will participate in an announcement marking the changes at Toronto’s Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport on Friday at 1 p.m. ET.
