Community stepping up after Ontario period product program leaves out Indigenous schools

Communities are making their own plans after Ontario's program to provide period products to students leaves out indigenous schools. Dilshad Burman with the calls for all governments to address the unfairness.

By Dilshad Burman

 

Indigenous schools in Ontario are not included in the province’s partnership with Shoppers Drug Mart to distribute free menstrual products in schools.

The fact was highlighted by MPP Sol Mamakwa during question period at Queen’s Park on Oct. 20.

Mamakwa says he reached out to Education Minister Stephen Lecce’s office following the announcement on Oct. 8 to clarify what the province meant by “all schools.”

“I found out that it’s not available to First Nations schools, not just on reserve, but off reserve as well,” he tells CityNews. “It just seemed discriminatory.”

That information prompted Mamakwa to stand up in parliament and ask Lecce “why is this government discriminating against First Nations schools?”

Lecce did not address the questions directly but said that the government was proud to roll out a plan that will help end period poverty in the province “for all publicly funded schools.”

Jurisdictional ping pong

“The federal government, who is responsible for on-reserve schools — we’ve reached out to them with the hope that they will match our program,” Lecce tells CityNews. “We’re advocating on behalf of the First Nations students of this province to make sure there is equitable access within those schools run by the federal government.”

Therein lies the problem, according to Mamakwa. As Indigenous schools are federally funded, he believes the province is using jurisdictional lines to exclude them from receiving essential products which Lecce himself called “a necessity, not a luxury” in a previous press conference.

“To play jurisdictional ping pong on access to these products — that should not be an issue,” says Mamakwa. “I think we need to be able to have this government accountable on this matter.”

Mamakwa cites Jordan’s Principle which is used in Canadian public policy, that states Indigenous children should get access to the supplied and services they need, regardless of jurisdiction.

“To use jurisdiction as an issue to divide people is not the right path. The right path would be [making us] part of the rolling out of the program … and not to treat us differently because our skin is brown, because we’re First Nations, because we’re on reserve,” says Mamakwa.

Lecce says Jordan’s principle is the basis for why his government reached out to Ottawa, asking them to step up.

“First Nations students, regardless of the schools they attend, should have access to menstrual products,” said Lecce. “In 2021, in such a prosperous country, its unacceptable that any child would stay home [because of lack of access].”

Mamakwa insists passing the buck on to the federal government is not acceptable.

“That shouldn’t be an issue. We should be part of the Ontario plan, not a federal plan.”


UPDATE, Nov. 5, 2021

On Friday, the federal government said that menstrual products will now be freely available to all on-reserve schools.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Patty Hajdu made the announcement on Twitter, saying “Period poverty should never be a barrier to going to school. End of story. Menstrual products are a basic need, and very soon they will be freely available in all on-reserve schools.”

In a statement, Lecce said his government was pleased that federal authorities “agreed to match Ontario’s initiative.”

“Our government is committed to removing barriers for students so that they can attend school each and every day, which is why we launched a program that will provide 18 million menstrual products to students who need them, he said. “We advocated for the federal government to adopt this program, which will now extend to all federally-run schools across the country.”


Impact on Indigenous students’ education

Menstrual products, like most other products, are much more expensive in the remote northern communities where some Indigenous schools operate. Pads and tampons can cost up to three times more.

Mamakwa says families are often left to choose between food security and menstrual products.

Norma Kejick, Executive Director of the Northern Nishwabe Education Council (NNEC) says students will sometimes miss school if they do not have access to menstrual products.

NNEC serves the Pelican Falls First Nations High School, Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School and Wahsa Distance Education Centre.

For Pelican Falls, NNEC purchases menstrual products for students using their core budget. For Dennis Franklin Cromarty, they ask for donations and have been receiving products from Honouring Indigenous Peoples in Toronto.

“It is sad that we’re having to write proposals and fundraise for basic needs,” she said. “If the government is going to be providing partnerships with other organizations to help schools in the Province of Ontario, it should be accessible to all students.”

Kejick says even though Indigenous schools have been left in the lurch due to bureaucracy, they make sure students are taken care of.

“In Indigenous culture, being on our moon time is very sacred. We should never feel ashamed or embarrassed about what our natural body goes through,” she said. “We try to make sure that our students never feel embarrassed about having to ask for these products if they don’t have them. We try to make them available to our students.”

Community over bureaucracy

While policymakers debate whose responsibility it should be, community members are taking up the mantle to ensure Indigenous students are supported.

Kenora based community organizer Tania Cameron launched her own menstrual products donation drive after hearing that Indigenous schools are not going to benefit from the government’s public-private partnership.

“To know that public schools in Ontario have access to such a tremendous initiative and to know that we are not part of that initiative, I think it’s just a general slap in the face,” said Cameron.

Cameron previously volunteered with Moon Time Sisters, a volunteer-based organization that collects period products for those in northern Indigenous communities. She says they are partnering with her to help raise funds and awareness.

While Cameron is accepting monetary donations herself, those who would prefer a tax receipt can donate through Moon Time Sisters. All the funds collected will go towards shipping the donated products to far north communities, which can be a hefty expense.

“We’re standing together. We’re filling in the gap where we see the need,” she said.

After launching her drive on Oct. 28, Cameron says what started a solo mission in Kenora has quickly grown to a much larger community collaboration across northwestern Ontario.

“I am so appreciative of the response from people around the region,” she said. “We have numerous [donation] sites identified and confirmed in Kenora. I’ve had different women contact me from Fort Frances, Dryden, Vermillion Bay, Red Lake and Sioux Lookout.”

After the donation drive ends on November 25, Cameron says her initial plan was to load up her and her husband’s trucks and drive up to the Sioux Lookout airport to have them flown out to northern communities. Now that the initiative has grown, she is working on the logistics of how to transport donated product from across northwestern Ontario and partnering with other organizations that will cover transportation costs.

“I love the fact that we’re all getting together and doing this for our far north students,” she said. “If the provincial government doesn’t want to step up, if Shoppers doesn’t want to step up, then it will be a community driven process, 100 per cent.”

CityNews reached out to Shoppers Drug Mart they said in part:

“Through this program, we are donating products to the Ministry of Education, who is responsible for how they get disseminated to schools, and the criteria …  At this point, we have not been contacted by any Indigenous communities, but would certainly be open to discussions.”

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