Manitoba to require businesses to provide period products for workers

Stocking tampons and pads will be the new cost of conducting business in Manitoba.

Beginning in August, all provincially regulated companies must provide free menstrual products to their employees in washrooms or other accessible areas.

“Periods are a normal part of life,” Labour Minister Malaya Marcelino said. “No one should have to worry about whether they have access to basic necessities while they’re at work.”

Manitoba will be the first province to mandate the requirement for the private sector.

Michele Kane is among the workers who are waiting to see how the mandate unfolds. Kane, who used to manage a large restaurant, said the cost could be a burden for big companies.

“I never went broke having to buy my own,” said Kane, who works for Broadway Florists. “A woman going to work is going to be prepared.”

Federal estimates suggest firms will pay $10 to $25 per menstruating employee annually, and an initial cost of $20 to $300 for a dispenser and disposal container.

Marcelino said a dispenser isn’t necessary; a covered container will do.

“The amounts (of products) are not really meant to cover workers’ entire periods. (It’s) just to make sure that there are supplies,” she said.

“Periods are a normal part of life… No one should have to worry about whether they have access to basic necessities while they’re at work.”

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business asked its members in a survey last July about providing free menstrual products, after the province requested it do so.

Roughly one-quarter of the 112 respondents said they were worried about cost and logistics. Ernest Cholakis, co-owner of Broadway Florists, joined the group.

“You have different people’s preferences — do you have to buy ‘X’ of these, ‘X’ of this?” he questioned Monday.

Breanna Drennan-Bilyk, an administrative worker in River Heights, said brand preferences are common among her friend group: “For me, maybe (using work-provided products) will only be an emergency scenario.”

Still, the new regulation will likely help families who are feeling the cost-of-living crunch, she said.

Several businesses already provide free menstrual products for staff and customers. The practice has been rolled out in yoga studios, the Winnipeg airport and post-secondary schools.

Seven per cent of CFIB survey respondents indicated they stock the goods. Cornelia Bean, a tea and coffee shop, has been doing so informally — staff leave products for fellow co-workers.

“It’s not a standard thing that we’ve done, but if it has to be something moving forward, then so be it,” said Kelli Krul, whose family owns the business. “It’s a benefit for employees.”

The Manitoba Federation of Labour threw its support behind the change Monday. Leaving menstrual products out of the workplace has been discriminatory to women and gender diverse people, said executive director Anna Rothney.

“I suspect at one time, businesses were concerned about the cost of having to provide toilet paper,” Rothney said. “I suspect a year from now, businesses are going to be saying ‘Why weren’t we doing this from the start?’”

Women account for around 299,000 of 779,400 Manitoba workers aged 25 and older, February Statistics Canada data show.

“I suspect at one time, businesses were concerned about the cost of having to provide toilet paper… I suspect a year from now, businesses are going to be saying, ‘Why weren’t we doing this from the start?’”

WeMB (formerly called the Manitoba Women’s Enterprise Centre) also applauded the change. Its chief executive once ran a charity, The Kindred Project, that supplied menstrual products to marginalized people.

“When we’re looking at equity and ensuring that people… have the things that they need to do their work in a safe environment, I think it’s a welcome change,” CEO Jackie Hunt said.

The requirement is being instituted at a time businesses are contending with weak consumer demand, higher operating costs and labour shortages, noted Brianna Solberg, the CFIB’s director for Manitoba.

“Even as a consumer sometimes, when you go into a restroom and those products are provided, it can be a nice gesture,” Solberg said. “I think it’s the mandatory aspect of it (that) has some concerned.”

Manitoba’s workplace safety and health branch will conduct checks during workplace inspections. Solberg said she hopes firms that are non-compliant will be educated instead of fined.

Tory Leader Obby Khan said while providing free menstrual products is “a great thing,” the New Democrats are “passing the cost on to businesses at a time where businesses are struggling.”

A committee that conducted a five-year review of the Workplace Safety and Health Act, which ended in January 2025, recommended the regulation be changed.

Labour representatives, employers and members of technical occupational health and safety occupations made up the committee, Marcelino said.

Red River College Polytechnic began offering free menstrual products to staff, students and contractors in 2024. Now, the practice is the “new normal,” said Jodi Pluchinski, director of safety, health and security services.

“We just do it and people are happy,” she said, adding that the products are in women’s and gender neutral washrooms.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com