Good afternoon, members of the committee, and thank you very much for inviting us to contribute to your study of menstrual equity in Canada.
Our names are Clara and Hayley, and we're the co-directors of Monthly Dignity, which is a non-profit organization tackling period poverty in Montreal. Our work centres around distributing free menstrual products to community-based organizations that serve clients in precarious situations, delivering inclusive menstrual education and advocating for free access to menstrual products, which should be considered a right rather than a privilege.
Our team is composed entirely of volunteers, and we are funded through in-kind contributions from manufacturers and donations from the community. We work with more than 20 community partners, including shelters for people experiencing houselessness, women’s shelters, domestic violence shelters, centres for newcomers, asylum seekers and refugee claimants, youth outreach centres as well as publicly funded schools.
In tandem with this grassroots work, we both also conduct qualitative research on menstrual equity, during which we have interviewed people with lived experiences of period poverty as well as the community organizers, many of them here today, across the country who support them.
In the past year, Monthly Dignity has received an increasing number of requests for menstrual products from community organizations, schools, and even individuals. Unfortunately, given the small size and limited resources of our organisation, we are not able to keep up with this growing demand. However, this illustrates two critical turning points: a sharp increase in the degree of need within the community, and a growing awareness about issues surrounding period poverty and interest in implementing systemic changes to address them.
As many as 1 in 4 people who menstruate in Canada have had to choose between buying menstrual products and paying for other necessities, such as groceries, and as you can imagine, food comes first
Although this illustrates a profound problem, the reality is that we know very little about the scope and impact of period poverty in Canada. Period poverty is a doubly-hidden issue, owing to historic taboos surrounding menstruation and the broader issue of poverty. It is also highly intersectional, disproportionately affecting underserved communities.