All seven of Georgian College’s campuses will offer free menstrual products in washrooms.
A total of 80 dispensers were purchased by the Georgian College Students’ Association (GCSA) and will be refilled as needed. The top-ups will be funded by the college.
That includes placing some in single-stall, gender-inclusive bathrooms.
GCSA’s executive council, which includes student leaders from all campus communities, voted to buy the dispensers this past summer. Their priority was access to menstrual products for all Georgian students, whatever their campus location or gender.
“The main goal was to remove the stigma attached to these products,” says Ishaan Sachdeva, the President of the GCSA in Barrie. “And to be honest with you, I have had friends who have missed their classes in the past while they were menstruating. I think it’s really important for GCSA to support these students.”
For Sheona Morrison, Manager of Student Leadership at the college, this announcement has been a long time coming.
“For as many years as I can remember, we’ve included hygiene products in food locker packages,” she said, referring to Georgian’s confidential campus food bank. “Students would come to GCSA offices and ask for them. They’d ask student services for them. Some campuses kept baskets in their bathrooms. We became inside providers of hygiene products. We used to look for opportunities to get free promotional products from companies, to fill the need.”
The college has two campuses in Barrie, and one each in Midland, Bracebridge, Orangeville, Orillia, Owen Sound, and Collingwood.