N.L. handing out free pads, tampons en masse — and for this student, it's a direct response to U.S. policies
Kelsey Fifield says menstrual equality program fights back against anti-choice rhetoric
Newfoundland and Labrador is becoming the first province to provide free menstrual products to post-secondary institutions, women's centres, food banks and shelters — and for one teen, the move is a direct response to anti-choice rhetoric in the United States.
Kelsey Fifield, a student at Ascension Collegiate in Bay Roberts, N.L., said Monday the program is more than just a relief when students get an unexpected period.
"My friends and I are terrified by what's happening south of our border," Fifield said, referring to an ongoing erasure of reproductive rights across the U.S. in recent years.
"It's impossible for young women growing up in this society to feel equal if that's what we're heading towards … so for this to be happening in our province, it really gives us that comfort that someone is looking out for us and our choice and our rights."
Fifield was on hand Monday when Pam Parsons, minister of women and gender equality, announced a $1.9-million donation from Canadian corporation Loblaw to distribute nearly five million pads and tampons across Newfoundland and Labrador over the next three years.
The minister, too, said the province is standing by its commitment to levelling the playing field for women and the gender diverse in spite of political turmoil over equality measures south of the border.
"Our message is clear," Parsons said. "Everybody deserves to work, grow, play, in an environment where they're respected and they're welcomed."
'Corporate goodwill'
Parsons said Monday the donation from Loblaw will help the province expand on its 2022 program that provides free menstrual products to students in grades four through 12.
"It's great corporate goodwill, what they're demonstrating," Parsons told reporters. "We welcome this support, of course, and it will go a long way."
Perry Martin, vice-president of government relations for Loblaw subsidiary Shoppers Drug Mart, said the corporation and its vendors were bearing the costs of the donation, and said Loblaw was not receiving tax breaks for it.
Loblaw came under public scrutiny last year for perceived price gouging as inflation and consumer costs skyrocketed across Canada. The company was the target of a nationwide boycott in May.
"There's an affordability crisis in this country and we think this helps out a bit," Martin said.
"We think it's an important thing for us to do. So if it costs … I mean, that's just a cost. I guess we think this is important enough to do."
A 2023 report to Women and Gender Equality Canada suggested 25 per cent of menstruating people worry about having to ration period products.
One in 10 people worry about being able to afford pads or tampons at all, and the report found a disproportionate number of those respondents were under the age of 30 or Indigenous.
Parsons said the donated products will arrive in March 2025, to Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services distribution centres.
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