Tampons now offered in Canadian Parliament men’s bathrooms
Tampons and sanitary napkins are now available in men’s bathrooms at the Canadian Parliament under a new policy from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that requires all federally-regulated employers — including airports and military bases — to offer free menstrual products in all washrooms, regardless of gender noted on the door.
News of the policy change spread last week after former Canadian Conservative Sen. Linda Frum posted a photo of a basket offering free pads and tampons inside a men’s bathroom for transgender members of Parliament — setting off a firestorm online.
“Back in the day, when only women menstruated, we had to pay for our own products. But now that men menstruate too, these products, as of this week, are mandated to be free in all men’s washrooms in all federal workplaces, including Parliament Hill — where this photo was taken today,” Frum posted on X.
An anonymous account called @HOCstaffer (for the House of Commons) later confirmed the report.
“They’re also going to build dispensers for all the tampons which won’t be used since 1) men don’t menstruate and 2) they are just going to bring them home to their wives for free,” the anonymous account argued.
Under the change to the Canadian Labour Code, which was originally announced in May but finally went into effect on Dec. 15, “menstrual products must be in all toilet rooms regardless of their marked genders.
“This means that every female-identified, male-identified and all gender toilet rooms will need to have menstrual products,” the regulations posted to Canada’s Employment and Social Development website say.
“Unrestricted access to menstrual products better protects menstruating employees and makes sure that they feel safe to use the toilet room that best reflects their gender.”
It is up to each employer to find the funding necessary to purchase these products and disposal containers.
In a statement, Trudeau’s government said that “providing employees with access to menstrual products supports better health outcomes and workplace productivity while reducing the stigma often associated with menstruation.”
Efforts to encourage the Canadian government to add menstrual products to men’s bathrooms began in 2020 when Rachel Ettinger, the founder of Here for Her — a campaign focused on health education — petitioned her local representative.
She argued that the government should “look at menstrual products as a necessity item, just like toilet paper.
“You can’t provide a truly inclusive space for your employees without providing menstrual products,” she told CBC.
Megan White, the executive director of Period Packs, also said that providing free tampons and other menstrual products creates a more equitable work environment.
“It makes a huge difference knowing that they’re consistently there and you don’t have to carry one with you everywhere, like at the bottom of your purse or the bottom of your school bag or in your pocket,” she said.
“It’s not appropriate to ask employees to leave on their lunch break, during time that’s supposed to be [for] rest, to go and find menstrual products.”
“When you get your period and there’s no way to manage it, it’s remarkably isolating. You essentially have to use toilet paper or some other inappropriate mechanism for managing your period.”
She added that limiting menstrual products to only women’s bathrooms would force all transgender men to use that washroom.
“We can’t ask people to self-identify in the workplace,” White said. “Why not accommodate everyone if you can? Why not set the highest standard as a federally regulated agency?”
Ettinger said her hope now is that the policy change will create a “domino effect” and encourage private businesses to start putting menstrual products in men’s bathrooms as well.
But others have spoken out against the new policy, with political columnist Brian Lilley arguing that the Trudeau government is ignoring the country’s growing unaffordability in favor of bathroom equity measures.
He also said the announcement on the government-run website continued a trend of eliminating the word “women,” and instead referring to those who use tampons as “menstruating employees.
“We are eliminating the language that identifies women as being distinct from men,” Lilley wrote, saying it was part of an attempt to be politically correct.
He concluded his op-ed by writing “As a society, we can be respectful” but that does not mean “we need to ignore biology and pretend that men are now having periods.”
Maxime Bernier, the leader of the People’s Party, also slammed the new policy as a “systematic attack against masculinity.
“The liberal decision to distribute tampons in men’s toilets everywhere, including on military bases, is just another step in the systematic attack against masculinity, and part of a wider ideological battle,” he wrote on X.
“The woke far left want to destroy Western societies, which they see as responsible for all evils in the world,” he claimed.
Bernier went on to write that “cultural Marxists” have a goal “to turn as many men as possible into non-binary, trans, gender-fluid weak effeminate sissies.
“In short, in a world that is becoming increasingly unstable and dangerous, they want our society to disintegrate and become defenseless.”
The Post has reached out to Trudeau’s office for comment.
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