Advocacy group launches letter-writing campaign to address period poverty in Alberta

To whom it may concern, I am on my period. 

That's the beginning of every letter Scarlet Bjornson hopes women in Alberta send to their local MLAs and MPs every time they are menstruating to raise awareness about period poverty — the lack of readily accessible menstrual products for people who need them.

Bjornson, who is from Edmonton, is the founder of No Woman Without, an organization that started as a donation drive for menstrual products and is now doing advocacy work and raising funds so women everywhere in Canada can have access to clean tampons and pads.

Although Canada lifted federal tax on menstrual products in 2015, Bjornson said the letter-writing campaign, launched March 1, focuses on policy change to make tampons and pads available everywhere. 

The idea is "to make sure they're available and free at all government buildings, all areas where people in general public access buildings," Bjornson said Thursday on CBC's Edmonton AM. 

"We go into a public washroom. We always assume there will be toilet paper there. Tampons and menstrual products, those should be there as well." 

No Woman Without has also started a fundraising campaign with the goal of raising $25,000 for the year. As of Thursday, the campaign had raised $400.

In Canada, menstruation typically begins between the ages of 11 and 14, and ends at menopause, around the age of 50, according to My Health Alberta. It's estimated the average person who menstruates will spend $6,000 in a lifetime for menstrual products.

A 2018 survey conducted by Always, a brand of menstrual and hygiene products, found that one in seven Canadian girls have missed school because they couldn't access menstrual products.

Bjornson said there is no local data available on period poverty but from her work at the Bissell Centre she has seen firsthand how women have to choose between groceries or personal hygiene. 

"You have to consider how many folks that we have living on support, such as AISH [Assured Income for Severely Handicapped] ... and you have to consider after they pay rent and utilities, often when you're looking at their budgets, they don't even have additional funds for food," she said. 

"When you need to take $20 … you're literally needing to choose between purchasing food or purchasing tampons or pads or whatever product you use."

Inadequate hygiene supplies can also be detrimental to a woman's health.

Women who use the same tampon for a prolonged time can develop infections that lead to toxic shock syndrome, a potentially fatal condition, according to a 2015 study published by the U.S.-based National Center for Biotechnology Information.

The study found that unsanitary measures during menstruation can lead to an increase in infections of the lower reproductive tract.

Bjornson said people experiencing homelessness face a lot of challenges when it comes to accessing products. 

"You're risking your health, you're risking your dignity. There are so many problems that come along with it, especially if you're not using a clean or a proper product," she said.

"It's just very frustrating."