Courtenay council on Wednesday (April 10) approved a pilot project that will install menstrual product dispensers in several men鈥檚 washrooms.

In a unanimous vote, council gave the green light for 11 bathrooms at the Lewis Centre and the LINC Youth Centre to be modified. The group of men鈥檚, women鈥檚 and gender-neutral bathrooms is slated to dispense free menstrual products.

For affected men鈥檚 washrooms, staff at the City of Courtenay explained that putting dispensers in the men鈥檚 washroom is not solely about people in the room using the product. There are other uses, such as someone in the men鈥檚 room having access to the menstrual product in order to help their family member.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a gender issue for everyone, because we鈥檙e talking about women, girls, we鈥檙e talking about non-binary, trans, we鈥檙e talking about their caregivers who may need to get those products for them including their family and their friends,鈥� council heard.

The city鈥檚 pilot project comes as council committed to the 鈥減eriod promise campaign.鈥� The campaign looks to make menstrual products free and accessible, to reduce the challenges that menstruation can cause 鈥渟o that everyone who menstruates can go to work, get to school, access services, and stay connected to their community.鈥�

Discussing the idea of providing menstrual products in all washrooms regardless of sex, Coun. David Frisch described it through a lens of public health.

鈥�(I am) a little bit surprised that there鈥檚 anything even close to a debate on this subject. I mean, there鈥檚 toilet paper in every washroom, no one questions whether it should be there or not.鈥�

The pilot project slated for the Lewis Centre and the LINC Youth Centre will gauge public feedback, to understand what changes the public is comfortable with or supports. Staff at the city intends to talk to the community before moving forward with significant changes, council heard.

Some possible details were also discussed in a separate vote. After approving menstrual product dispensers, council also gave the green light for the city to conduct a gender-equity review of publicly operated bathrooms across the city.

Describing the review, a presenter at council said, 鈥淭here are general standards that we could look at to make (bathrooms) more inclusive, which is basically removing the icons that, you know, show gender identity: dressed women and the pants on the man. It could include language. But again, we would talk to people, we would talk to the community before we made any changes like that.鈥�

Also in the review, the City of Courtenay plans to correct any signage issues. The city recently discovered through assessing bathrooms at the Lewis Centre and LINC Youth Centre that some signs incorrectly state that amenities are available when they are not, and vice versa. The city intends to make the fix.

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