Thank you for the question.
To preface, I'm not directly involved with the menstrual equity fund in my work in the province of B.C. I can speak to the importance of the type of work such a fund and such grassroots activities do in informing our work.
One of the important things about the way the Government of B.C. structured our period poverty task force work is that it also accompanies a series of grants for grassroots organizations. We're taking a look at how we can solve the problem within communities. As I said in my statement, that's very important. The reason there's a task force in B.C. is that it's a systemic issue, and there's no one approach that's going to work for everybody.
The granting system we've set up in B.C., in which we will have full research and report, is the second. The first system informed the United Way B.C.'s Period Promise research project, which a number of witnesses have referred to in their testimony over the past week. That study gave us the direct knowledge from people with lived experience, which is critical. In terms of looking at the menstrual equity fund and the potential to frame that, it does look a lot like the way we did the work in B.C., where we talked to people in communities who have the needs and are able to tell us what works, what doesn't and where we need to be expanding. I think that's critical.
I sit here as somebody who has not personally experienced period poverty, though I have been an activist on this issue for many years. Those voices from community are very important. They will be important in the menstrual equity fund as well.