Trustees send letter to Ministry re: Access to Free Menstrual Products
PDF Version: Chair Letter – Menstrual Products Funding – final
November 19, 2021
Hon. Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education
315 Front Street, 14th Floor
Toronto, ON M7A 0B8
Re: Access to Free Menstrual Products
Dear Minister Lecce,
We are writing to share important information about the menstrual product initiative in Ontario school boards.
First, we would like to thank you for supporting access to free menstrual products for Ontario students. This is an important commitment to equity, student health and removing barriers so that all students can attend school. Many of us, including our Student Trustees, have advocated for this. We appreciate the Ministry’s support.
However, we want to make you aware of some barriers as we plan to make this initiative sustainable.
On June 14, 2021, Trustees passed a motion: “That HWDSB prepare a report to provision free menstrual products in the washrooms of all schools in the same barrier-free, equitable fashion that other sanitation products are made available no later than the 2022-23 fiscal budget and that staff report back to the Board of Trustees.”
With this, staff began gathering data to determine the number of dispensers required to have menstrual products accessible in any washroom that would be accessed by someone who menstruates. Staff intended to include the financial requirement in the 2022-23 budget.
We were encouraged when, on October 8, 2021, the Ministry released B Memo 2021: B21 “Enhanced Student Access to Free Menstrual Products in Ontario Schools.” The Ministry announced that a donation from Shoppers Drug Mart Incorporated would support this work across Ontario schools.
For HWDSB, this announcement meant that we could implement this plan a year earlier than planned. The Ministry will provide us with 22 dispensers, to be installed in single-use secondary school washrooms. The Ministry will provide 134,000 menstrual pads.
This was a welcome donation, but it is just a fraction of what we need to make this sustainable. Rather than 22 dispensers with 134,000 pads, staff estimate that our schools will require:
- 750 dispensers to equip all female and single-use washrooms in each school, and 1,846 napkin disposal receptacles in all stalls where they are not currently provided. The total one-time cost will be about $300,000 for the hardware required for this initiative.
- In addition, there will be two main annual operating costs – for pads and liners for receptacles – which staff estimate at $100,000 to $125,000.
We are appreciative of any support but want to be clear: In year one of this initiative, HWDSB faces a cost of about $425,000 that is not covered by the Ministry.
Donations are always welcome when they support our students. But donations are not a stable and sustainable funding source.
We are respectfully requesting that the Ministry find a predictable funding source for this initiative, so that our students know that we are committed to their long-term well-being and an inclusive school environment.
We hope the Ministry will confirm the importance of this initiative and their commitment through long-term stable funding that addresses the needs at boards across the province.
Sincerely,
Dawn Danko
Chair of the Board
Updated on Monday, November 29, 2021.