When Yanique Brandford was growing up in Jamaica, her family couldn’t afford menstrual products, so she’d make her own pads out of cardboard.
The family moved to Canada when she was 14, and she figured that since she’d arrived in the “land of opportunity,” this would change.
But since her family features a lot of women with heavy flow, they couldn’t afford the expensive period products they all needed. Brandford still went to school wearing her homemade, uncomfortable cardboard pads.
A keen science student who’s now a nuclear physicist, Brandford said as a high school student she’d notice that her classmates in STEM classes would be absent at certain times of the month like “clockwork.”
She learned this was because they were either suffering from painful cramps, or they, like herself, couldn’t afford period products — they were experiencing what Brandford refers to as “period poverty.”
Some of them ended up dropping out of science courses because they missed school, and it was hard for them to catch up.
“I was never absent,” said Brandford, who went on to found an organization called Help a Girl Out in 2018 that distributes period products to those in need.
“My mom would never let me stay home in Jamaica, and she wouldn't let me stay home in Canada. I would have to find a way to get my ass to school. But it wasn't like that for the other girls. They got the pass to stay home, and I could see it blighting their future, and it was very upsetting.”
Brandford said she was glad in 2021 when the provincial government formed a partnership with Shoppers Drug Mart to distribute period products in Ontario schools, although the initiative was not without its issues.
She said the quality was “just not what we expected from Shoppers Drug Mart,” with some students finding the pads and tampons “uncomfortable,” although any free products would have been a “game-changer” for her as a student forced to wear her cardboard pads.
Brandford said the other issue was that the products weren’t distributed equitably in Ontario, saying that obviously free products are needed more in lower-income areas.
The provincial government announced this week it's renewing the partnership with Shoppers Drug Mart for another three years, providing more than 23 million free menstrual products to students, an increase of three million compared to the previous agreement.
This represents an in-kind contribution of more than $8 million from Shoppers. In addition to free menstrual pads and tampons, Shoppers Drug Mart will provide 1,380 dispensers in the first year to facilitate the delivery of these products in schools.
Free menstrual products will be available to all school boards and school authorities across Ontario.
“We know that when students can’t access or afford menstrual products, it often results in them missing school, work or other activities – but we're changing that,” said Education Minister Todd Smith, in a press release.
“Access to products through Ontario’s Menstrual Equity Initiative is just one more way we are removing barriers for women and girls so they can reach their full potential and realize their dreams.”
Sudbury.com reached out to a couple of local school boards for comment on the renewed menstrual products deal. We received the following brief emailed statement from the Rainbow District School Board.
"We commend the Ministry of Education for its continued support of this program which will ensure students have the resources and support they need."
Brandford said she’s hoping that because this is a renewal of the 2021 deal, the quality and equitable distribution issues will be fixed.
“And I guess we'll see, but in any case, it's a game-changer for anyone experiencing period poverty because it's better than nothing, right?” she said.
The origins of Brandford’s organization Help a Girl Out came when she was 16, and upset with her friends not being able to afford pads and tampons. She got a credit card and maxed it out, buying menstrual products for girls at her school.
Obviously that situation couldn’t continue, and a friend’s mom reached out to her, whose workplace did a drive for pads and tampons so that she could continue to give them to fellow students in need.
Eventually, she formalized her efforts into a non-profit organization called Help a Girl Out, which collects and distributes both disposable and reusable menstrual products in Canada and in developing countries, as well as providing education on menstrual issues.
“We found that mental health and period poverty, they go hand-in-hand,” said Brandford. “I can talk about my own mental health and what it did to me when I was unable to afford products, but there's a lot of depression and anxiety attached to it as well.”
Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s assistant editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.