Looking for menstrual products? Port Coquitlam has a map for it
PoCo recently partnered with Period Pin
People in Port Coquitlam have a new way to find free menstrual products.
The city has recently partnered with Period Pin, an Ottawa-based organization that runs an online map showing people where free menstrual products are available. Port Coquitlam will also print and display the map at some of its facilities for people without smartphones.
“Making menstrual products accessible just means that we don’t have to worry when we’re out and about — pads and tampons are just as available as toilet paper,” said Karen Farley, one of Period Pin’s co-founders.
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Period Pin reaches out to local governments, universities and community organizations to ask them if they have free menstrual products — and, if they do, if they want to be on the map. They contacted Port Coquitlam in mid-March of this year.
Farley also hopes that the map is a resource for folks who can’t afford menstrual products.
“Having a map where products are available to the public is important so that people living with income insecurity, that may be unhoused, can also access the products they need,” they said.
Businesses can also reach out to Period Pin on social media or their website if they offer free period products and want to be added on the map, Farley added.
Currently, the City of Port Coquitlam has 12 places where people can go for free menstrual products, including City Hall, Sun Valley Pool and Lions Park. They have been rolling this out since 2022.
“It just really aligns with council’s goal to be a livable city. And so we want everyone to be able to participate in our programs and services,” said Carrie Nimmo, Port Coquitlam’s manager of cultural development and community.
Nancy McCurrach, a Port Coquitlam Councillor, said that the menstrual products available in city facilities are meant for emergencies — not for people’s monthly supplies. There are local charities, she said, like United Way and SHARE Family and Community Services, that support folks looking for free monthly menstrual products.
Coun. McCurrach has previously advocated that all bathrooms have menstrual products in them.
This past March, she introduced a motion to council to advocate that B.C. Building Codes “include provisions for menstrual supplies.”
“The world needs to get with the times,” she said. “I hope there will be a day sometime where people just think of that, when they look at products as, ‘oh, that’s just like paper towel.’”
