Status of Women Committee on June 12th, 2023

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Perfect. Thank you so much.

We have seven minutes remaining, so we have about a minute and a half per group.

I would like to ask one question and then we will go around to the group from there. I will be passing it over to Sonia for your minute and a half. I will start this right now. I will give myself a minute.

Thank you so much to everybody. I really do appreciate your coming.

Linda, perhaps to you, I know we have talked a lot about distribution. To me, distribution is one of the greatest challenges we have, especially when we're looking to the Far North and to some of these remote communities.

There are great options through the United Way and different things like that, but how are we getting it to those remote communities when it is already so difficult to get food and items like that?

[Linda Biggs]

As I mentioned in my testimony, from an individual perspective, we're able to ship to those communities for free. We do that because our packaging is letter mail rate essentially. As a business, we took the look. We had the lens of accessibility and we built that into our model to ask, “How do we then provide this accessibility to everyone in Canada equally?”

All of the individual businesses here today have that lens and are taking a look at those innovative solutions, which I think is very important for this fund and this program—to really work with organizations like us because we are already taking those steps forward.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thanks so much.

I'm now going to pass it on to Sonia.

Sonia, you have the floor.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you to all the witnesses for being with us and thank you for your work and advocacy.

Ms. Biggs, you mentioned that 87% of people who menstruate have been caught off guard with 34% of them having to leave school, work or sports to find a pad or tampon.

What recommendation would you have for our committee to ensure accessible and affordable menstrual products for all individuals in Canada so that no one has to miss work or school? You also mentioned the distribution. Can you give us some recommendations or advice?

[Linda Biggs]

Yes. Thank you for the question.

It's a very complex solution, so there's not going to be a one-size-fits-all approach to it. It's very much taking an innovative approach to how period care is dispersed and the options available.

When it comes to disposable and reusable, it's not necessarily an either-or option. You can use both. For workers, it's the same as toilet paper. You need this product when you go to work. We need to provide accessible products, and then take that sustainable lens, because when we're looking at the impact of these products and how many people use them, we can do better by providing products that are disposable, biodegradable and compostable.

I think it's very much going to take collaboration at all levels, with our non-profit partners, with organizations like joni and Aisle and Bfree Cup, who are here today, because we each come with a unique solution and a unique lens to be able to build a long-term solution in this space that really takes—again we're going to say—this team Canada approach because that's really important.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Awesome. Thank you so much.

I'll go back to Andréanne Larouche for a question.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you very much.

Thank you to the witnesses, and I would like one of them to answer the following question.

In March of 2021, people living in Quebec's 92 municipalities and Montreal's eight boroughs were entitled to a subsidy program for the purchase of reusable menstrual products. We're talking about 2,042,431 people, or 24.9% of Quebec's population. In addition, the government of Quebec has already carried out studies on the issue, including one entitled “Faciliter l'accès aux produits menstruels: mesures possibles”, conducted by the Conseil du statut de la femme du Québec. Many municipalities in Quebec have adopted measures to facilitate access to menstrual products.

Could the federal government offer financial resources to implement similar initiatives? I'm thinking of Quebec, but we have a witness here from British Columbia. This falls under the health system. It would follow that the Canada Health Transfer should be increased to give Quebec and the provinces the financial means to set up more initiatives like this.

[Suzanne Siemens]

Yes. I would agree that additional funding to the provinces would be hugely beneficial so that they can then adopt a provincial approach to ensuring their constituents get what they need. I would support that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

That's fantastic.

It's down to just one question, because we're right at the end of the time.

Bonita, you can have one final question.

Thanks.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Thank you.

My question will be for Ms. Hill around other feminist laws that may be able to address equity in addition to product. I think about what recently happened in Spain around allowable days for debilitating period pain.

I currently have a petition that I'm sponsoring in the House of Commons around this ask for the ability to have days off with this debilitating pain. I know that many young girls and diverse genders throw up and vomit during this time. I'm wondering if you have any thoughts about other feminist laws. They're often very hard to push through.

[Nicola Hill]

Thank you for that petition. I think it's really important as decision-makers, even in terms of recommendations and questions, to look at which programs and policies can be changed. Really, as you're looking at developing an assistance program, for example, does it account for needing to provide more money to people who menstruate to access menstrual products?

The labour code changes are important, and we're going to be looking at similar things in B.C. around employment standards and WorkSafe, because these are important measures. When you're looking at poverty reduction plans, are you accounting in those programs for giving people access to emergency management plans?

It is incredibly important not to look at this as isolated to one act or one fund. You need to have a holistic approach that applies this lens to ensure the issue is actually being addressed throughout education, poverty and northern services.

Thank you so much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you so much.

On behalf of the committee, I would really like to thank all of the witnesses who came today to give us their professional look at this really important issue.

We are going to suspend for a moment. I'm asking any of our members online to get on the other link. We'll be going in camera for a few minutes.

We will suspend for about two to three minutes and get on the new link. Thank you.

[Proceedings continue in camera]