Free period products in Ontario washrooms could become reality

Free menstrual products in Ontario workplaces? That's a "no-brainer," according to one provincial legislator pushing to make them as commonplace as toilet paper and soap.

That's one of the reasons Alexa Gilmour, MPP for Parkdale–High Park, recently introduced Bill 131, Menstrual Health Day Act, 2026. The bill would require menstrual products to be available in workplace washrooms across Ontario and would designate every May 28 going forward as Menstrual Health Day.

The proposed legislation comes as many Ontario residents continue to struggle with the rising cost of living. According to research cited by Gilmour, one in six people (because it is not just women who get periods) who menstruate have had to choose between purchasing menstrual products or essentials like food and toilet paper.

For Gilmour, the issue is no different than ensuring workplaces stock other basic health and hygiene supplies. 

"If you bleed at work, cut yourself, there is a first aid kit there for you," she tells blogTO. "There should be the same support available for people who menstruate.”

Gilmour says the affordability crisis has worsened period poverty across the province, forcing some people to extend the use of menstrual products beyond recommended limits or reuse products altogether. 

For many who menstruate, the experience is an all too familiar one: using makeshift alternatives out of heaps of toilet paper, or waiting until the next paycheck to purchase a $12 box of tampons. Gilmour says she has heard from Ontario folks who are taking increasingly desperate measures to manage their periods as costs continue to rise. 

"They are reusing or using period supplies longer than they should, which is a huge health risk," Gilmour said. "That's been exacerbated because the cost of menstrual products in the last five years has gone up almost 20 per cent."

The cost of a period

blogTO informally surveyed close to 100 people in Ontario (most of them in Toronto), and the majority said they spend up to $40 a month on period products. Some more fortunate people shared that their workplaces already provide free products. 

Though $40 a month may be peanuts for someone who, say, earns a $70,000 salary, it can be expensive for one of the 700,000 Ontario workers making the minimum wage of $17.60.

Some boxes of pads can cost around $10.99 in Ontario, depending on the store. Photo: Jenari/Shutterstock

One person surveyed, who wished to remain anonymous, told blogTO that their lower income makes it difficult to afford essentials, so they rely on free products at work and at friends' houses.

Sarah Mayes is the Executive Director of The Period Purse, Canada's first registered charity dedicated to menstrual equity. She says experiences like these are part of a larger issue affecting people in Ontario and across Canada. 

"Certain populations are disproportionately affected by period poverty, including people with low incomes, newcomers, students, and those living in rural, remote, and Indigenous communities, where products can be both more expensive and harder to access," Mayes says.

Here in Toronto, 13.2 per cent of residents live in poverty, according to the 2021 census, meaning half a quarter of the population can't afford basic items and period products.

But businesses in the city have already begun offering free pads, tampons and other products in their bathrooms — providing much-needed relief to those who really need it.

At performance company Rainbow Circus, menstrual products are kept alongside other care supplies such as band-aids, hair elastics and snacks, which employees are entitled to. Director Jayeden Walker tells blogTO that making the products readily available helps reduce the shame and stigma that can still surround menstruation.

"Menstrual products should be as accessible as any other personal hygiene item,” says Alex Philps, owner of fitness studio Barre Belle. "We know many menstruating people are already managing life-altering symptoms every single month, and the stress of forgetting a menstrual product shouldn't be added on top of that."

Mayes agrees that period products are essential items, not optional items. 

"We don't expect employees to bring their own toilet paper or soap to work, and period products should be viewed in the same way," she says.

"The long-term goal is to make period products available wherever people need them — in schools, libraries, community centres, recreation facilities, and other public spaces, and in washrooms for all genders since trans and non-binary folks menstruate too," Mayes says.

Ontario would be in good company

After decades of advocacy, jurisdictions around the world are already recognizing the importance of making period products freely available. In 2021, Scotland became the first country to provide free access to period products. Earlier in 2026, Manitoba became the first province in Canada to mandate that employers supply free menstrual products in workplace washrooms beginning in August. 

"Ontario has an opportunity to build on that momentum and demonstrate similar leadership," Mayes says.

But workplaces, Mayes and Gilmour both agree, aren't the finish line.

"The long-term goal is to make period products available wherever people need them — in schools, libraries, community centres, recreation facilities, and other public spaces, and in washrooms for all genders, since trans and non-binary folks menstruate too," Mayes says.

As for Bill 131, which is up for debate in the near future, Gilmour says it has received support from labour groups, including the Ontario Federation of Labour, and believes it is only a matter of time before menstrual products are treated as a basic necessity.

"But let's not wait," she says. "Let's get on the right side of history now."