Status of Women committee  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 ne

Status of Women committee  Thank you. We have partners here in B.C. that are large companies—Pacific Blue Cross and Vancity—in addition to a number of unions, organizations, government crowns and municipalities. I think that, initially, people look at the cost and think it's prohibitive. When they underst

Status of Women committee  Absolutely, we've seen that in all the data. One thing that shows leadership is when sports teams and community centres stand together. Recently in Victoria, the Q Centre and, I think, four of the sports teams decided to endorse menstrual products in their washrooms with Period

Status of Women committee  In B.C., part of our task force work has been to bring together businesses—you've mentioned a few of them, and some of them are in the room—that we've worked with for a long time as a reference group so we can have these conversations about what policy change they need from gover

Status of Women committee  Through our period poverty task force work, we have engaged a number of educators in our hearings in the past few months. One of the things we have been very surprised to find is how much the level of education on menstrual health has decreased. This was particularly over the pan

Status of Women committee  Thank you for the question. Through our surveys and our data, because we want to rely on people's experiences, we have been told that many issues face people who don't have the access and ability to change their products regularly. Their leaving products in too long is one probl

Status of Women committee  With period poverty, we should be prioritizing some of the people that I noted in my statement. We're talking about people who are vulnerable. We have noted a disproportionate impact on indigenous people, for example, as well as people with disabilities and young people in post-s

Status of Women committee  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 thing

Status of Women committee  Thank you for the question. I think it is very important that we are not only working towards what will most benefit British Columbians. We are also very hopeful that our report will be of benefit to Canadians as a whole. We are currently the only remaining period poverty task f

Status of Women committee  Thank you, Madam Chair and esteemed committee, for the invitation to appear before this committee on this important issue. My name is Nikki Hill and I'm the chair of the Government of B.C.'s period poverty task force. I am here today on the traditional unceded territory of the