The 2023 survey completed by Plan International Canada found that 25% of Canadian women “who menstruate have been forced to make the decision between purchasing menstrual products and purchasing other essentials such as food or rent within the last year.”
Through our work, we’ve seen first-hand the disproportionate effect of period inequity in northern communities. We know that far more than 25% of indigenous menstruators have been forced to make this difficult decision.
We recently partnered with the University of Saskatchewan and developed a crowdsourcing survey to collect information about preferences, as well as the barriers experienced by people who menstruate in remote northern communities. We’re pleased to share some of the preliminary results with you today. For your reference, we have provided a copy with some figures in appendix 2.
Our data is not a one-to-one comparison to the Plan study, but our preliminary findings are very telling.
One key takeaway is that 73% of indigenous respondents in remote communities and 55% of indigenous respondents in non-remote communities sometimes or often have issues accessing menstrual products.
Relating to the previous question, of responses from those who sometimes or often have access issues; 39% say that this is because they are unavailable at the store; 26% of responses say that they have other priority items to buy, and 26% say that they are unaffordable.
The survey also indicated that indigenous respondents in remote communities were most likely to miss work, school and exercise due to a lack of access to period products.
Our survey explored product preference, access to pain relief, recycling programs, various experiences while menstruating, and who menstruators are comfortable talking with about their moon time. Additional data will be released in a forthcoming report.