The City of Terrace will be offering free menstrual products in select washrooms around the city, as part of a six-month pilot project starting in Jan. 2022.
Eight publicly accessible washrooms will be part of the test project, which has a price tag of nearly $8,000 to be taken from the city’s surplus and included in the 2022 budget. That figure includes a 15 per cent contingency to deal with vandalism to the dispensers.
Proposed locations for the dispensers are the library, Sportsplex (two washrooms), aquatic centre (two washrooms), George Little Park, George Little House and city hall.
“I think access to feminine hygiene products is fundamental to dignity, equality and human rights and I think this is something that we probably should have put in place a long time ago,” said Coun. Sean Bujtas at the Sept. 27 council meeting.
“We need to make sure that when we discover the hurdles of all of this we don’t walk away from it, we figure out how we can adapt and make sure we are offering it in all of our facilities.”
The city has offered free menstrual products at the Terrace Sportsplex before, but those dispensers were removed over a decade ago due to vandalism and low usage.
According to city staff, the pilot project will give the city a chance to evaluate needs and challenges and add clarity to costing for an expanded no-charge menstrual product program.
READ MORE: ‘The need is so high’: B.C.’s period poverty crisis combatted by free supply campaign