Aisle Partners with Food Banks Canada to Supply Reusable Menstrual Products

While period poverty remains a prevalent challenge, it’s solvable through committed leadership supporting local resources and partners. It’s been our longstanding conviction that the solution to period poverty–menstrual equity–must include both sustainable disposable as well as reusable products, in addition to education, pain management and ending stigma. These solutions must furthermore be socially inclusive and universally accessible.

Having been in conversation with multiple partners in the menstrual care and equity space over many years, we’re thrilled to see the Government of Canada taking meaningful steps to providing marginalized people in Canada with a choice of sustainable disposable as well as reusable pads and period underwear, as well as supporting inclusive education.

We are thrilled to share that Aisle pads were available at three Canadian food banks as part of Women and Gender Equality Canada’s (WAGE) Menstrual Equity Fund pilot. 

(Photo: Aisle Pad Kits on the shelf at St. Joseph’s Food Bank, Mission B.C.)

This is a very meaningful milestone for us. Universal access to quality sustainable menstrual products has long been at the heart of our mission, and to see people who would not otherwise be able to access our products receive them for free lifts our hearts.

Period poverty is a pervasive problem, impacting upwards of 25% of Canadians who menstruate. What this oft-quoted statistic masks is how much more acutely period poverty affects Indigenous people, particularly in remote rural and Northern areas. Fortunately, WAGE’s pilot project has taken this into account, largely thanks to taking the time to thoroughly consult a wide variety of Canadian stakeholders and experts and craft a report based on their findings.

Let’s Talk About it, Period: Achieving Menstrual Equity in Canada is a groundbreaking report produced in 2023 by the Canadian Parliament’s Standing Committee on the Status of Women. Aisle’s co-founders Suzanne and Madeleine were consulted extensively and summoned as witnesses to participate in the Committee’s research, along with a host of their peers and colleagues, activists, educators and entrepreneurs. 

The report’s findings demonstrate that an intersectional approach is vital to addressing period poverty, being particularly sensitive to the unique barriers faced by rural, Northern, Indigenous, transgender and non-binary people, individuals experiencing other forms of poverty, single parent families, racialized groups, refugees, and new Canadian immigrants.

“Food banks across the country see firsthand and every day, how far too many people are being forced to choose between buying enough food or menstrual products,” shared Caren Batchelor, Procurement Manager, National Programs, Food Banks Canada.  

“We don’t believe this is a choice anyone should have to make, which is why we are so proud to be working with food banks and community organizations in every province and territory to deliver this critical pilot. We are very grateful to Aisle for helping make it possible. Together, we will make a real difference toward ending period poverty.”