What happens after the free menstrual products pilot project ends in Burnaby?

Burnaby is currently providing free menstrual products at several city locations in partnership with the United Way’s Period Promise campaign, but the pilot program is set to end this summer, and it will be up to the city to decide what will come next.

The program, which began in January 2022, supplies free menstrual products through dispensers installed at six public facilities in the city. Currently, the program runs at Cameron Recreation Complex, Edmonds Community Centre, Eileen Dailly Leisure Pool & Fitness Centre, Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, Tommy Douglas Library, and McGill Library. The pilot will end in July.

Robin Juergensen, recreation manager for the City of Burnaby’s parks, recreation, and cultural services, told the Beacon that a data review of the pilot will take place to determine the city’s next steps with the program.

“So when we do a pilot program like this, near the end of the pilot, we will have been gathering data all along [to determine] what’ s the usages, what has been the feedback we’ve been getting from customers or staff, is there anything to anticipate, what are the operating costs, have there been damage to the machines,” she said.

“And all of that data will go back to council because this pilot was an initiative of city council. So we would report back to them, and they would consider that information and decide what to do with it.”

The city had been in talks about the program since 2019, and it was initially supposed to run from March 1 to Aug 31, 2020.

A January 2020 report from the financial management committee noted that “having access to menstrual products is essential for the health, well-being, and full participation of persons who menstruate in society, however, if an individual is living a life in poverty, access to these essential products can be challenging. The cost and availability of these products is of particular concern to those who are poor and often face the choice of purchasing needed menstrual products or buying other essentials like food.”

That report identified six sites (some different than the current sites) to test the pilot: Beresford Warming Centre, Cameron Community, Edmonds Community Centre, Eileen Dailly Pool, Bob Prittie Public Library, and Shadbolt Centre for the Arts.

The city said it would roll out menstrual products by installing 12 coin-free dual dispensers for tampons and sanitary pads in women’s and universal washrooms at the six facilities. Additionally, the city would convert the dispensers in the existing 12 facilities that have coin-operated dispensers to coin-free dispensers. The city estimated the costs of the installation to be $12,000.

Juergensen explained that the initial pilot was delayed due to the start of the pandemic.

“When we closed down our recreation facilities, it did not make sense that we would get a fair assessment of pilot project like this. If we went ahead with the pilot when our buildings were, first of all shut down for a couple of months, and then, once we reopened, participation was significantly limited, so we didn’t want to go ahead with a pilot like this during a time when we knew we wouldn’t get really good data because the number of people coming was so much less,” she said.

“So we postponed it to the point we are now … because our facilities are open and the volume of programs and activities, the diversity of things we are offering, is getting close to normal again.”

Juergensen said that the sites chosen to participate in the project saw some changes to reflect facilities where the city anticipated seeing more visitors after restrictions started to ease.

The United Way BC’s Period Promise co-chair, Susanne Skidmore, and the organization’s provincial director of labour participation, Neal Adolph, told the Beacon via email that they are looking forward to hearing the results of Burnaby’s pilot project and are optimistic that the city will continue and expand the program.

“Most municipalities discover that the implementation is simple, less expensive than they anticipated, and greatly appreciated by people who use public washrooms while accessing a whole host of important public services, and so they find ways to turn the program from a pilot into a permanent service in all of their washrooms,” they said.

Skidmore and Adolph also emphasized that the need for free menstrual products continues to be crucial, especially due to the impacts of the pandemic and the rising cost of goods.

“Periods don’t stop for pandemics or affordability crises. The pandemic, inflation, and increases in the cost of living have all had a major impact on accessibility to menstrual products. People who menstruate make up the majority of Canada’s minimum-wage and part-time workers, and tend to work in industries that were at much higher risk of lay-off during the various waves of COVID-19. A lot of those industries are still recovering, and many are finding work less accessible even with rapid growth in employment rates,” they wrote.

“The cost of product has gone up as supply chains have been interrupted or shifted and wages continue to stagnate compared to increases in the cost of living. In many cases we can track the increase in need for menstrual products alongside the increase in need for food and other core household needs; both have grown substantially over the past two years.”

The United Way’s Period Promise campaign runs entirely on donations, but the pilot project in Burnaby is fully funded by the city.