National groups, municipality back push to get proper menstrual products to Kenora District Jail inmates

Efforts to get Ontario's solicitor general to ensure better-quality menstrual products are available for inmates at the Kenora District Jail have gained the support of several national groups and a local municipality.  

Last month, community advocate Tania Cameron toured the jail with Kiiwetinoong MPP Sol Mamakwa and spoke with two dozen female inmates about concerns over lack of accessible period products.

Cameron said she was told by inmates that they must request a menstrual product from a correctional officer (CO) every time they need one, and they're receiving period "pads on a roll" that are more like panty liners and not absorbent enough for their needs.

She said she also saw two dysfunctional toilets in the female blocks and was told by inmates that they've been using "about a blanket a day" to stop one from leaking, while the other one is barely usable.

"The CO in that moment said that there are immediate plans for repair, but the women were telling me it could be down for days and they try not to use it," Cameron told CBC News on Monday.

Since Cameron raised these concerns, several national "menstrual equity" groups across Canada have sounded the alarm over the situation at the jail. Kenora's city council also passed a resolution earlier this month that calls for:

"It makes me feel really good," Cameron said of seeing this support.

"When I share this with the women that are in the Kenora jail, I know that they're surprised that someone's paying attention to this matter."

A spokesperson for the solicitor general's office told CBC News that inmates have access to a wide range of menstrual products. They did not respond to a followup question about the toilets.

"The ministry provides inmates at all provincial correctional facilities with menstrual products at no cost. The products that are available free of charge in female units at all provincial correctional facilities include varieties of tampons, varieties of sanitary napkins as well as panty liners," said Greg Flood, spokesperson for the solicitor general's office, in an email to CBC News on Friday.

"Female inmates at the Kenora jail have always had access to free menstrual products located near the washroom in the female unit."

However, Cameron said that wasn't the case when she visited the jail in June.

"They could say technically there's menstrual products in the facility, but I saw the shelves myself — they're just outside the cell block," Cameron said.

"I don't understand why they just don't have it inside by the washrooms where they can just … select the type they need for their flow in that moment."