When more than 4,000 athletes descend on St. John’s this August for the 2025 Canada Games, they’ll be met with a new kind of support system that’s plant-based, plastic-free and long overdue.
In a first-of-its-kind partnership, Canadian period care brand joni will supply free menstrual products at athletic venues throughout the Games. The startup wants to normalize period care in public spaces and reduce stigma for young athletes.
“No one should ever have to miss out on sports, education, or life because of their period,” said Linda Biggs, co-founder and CEO of joni. “We're thrilled to partner with the 2025 Canada Games to normalize period care in public spaces and empower athletes to perform at their best.”
joni’s plant-based pads and tampons will be available in restrooms and training facilities throughout the Games, as the event focuses on inclusion, health and environmental responsibility.
“The 2025 Canada Games are committed to removing barriers to participation and creating a safe, inclusive space for everyone,” said Karen Sherriffs, CEO of the 2025 Canada Games Host Society, in a release. “We’re proud to partner with joni to help achieve that vision.”
The move comes at a time when period equity is gaining ground in both policy and public discourse, thanks in part to advocacy by brands like joni.
Canadian athletes are advocating for better education and support around menstrual health in sports. Over 17 per cent of Canadians who menstruate say they’ve experienced a lack of access to menstrual products. For low-income households, that figure goes up to 25 per cent. Over half of Canadian women and girls aged 14 to 55 have missed activities because of menstrual-related concerns, including access to period care products.
With their commercial dispensers already installed in hundreds of schools and workplaces across North America, joni is leading a push to make period care as accessible as toilet paper.
For Biggs, it’s also personal. Long before joni was a company, or even an idea, there were the hallways of an old apartment building off Fraser Street in Vancouver, where she lived with her single mom and abuelita.
“It always smelled strongly of Dove soap, rubber bands and hot chocolate. A distinctly odd combination that occasionally floods my memory as an adult,” Biggs wrote in a personal blog post reflecting on her journey. “I think about the fun we had together, but also the food lines we sometimes waited in, and the way people treated her as my nanny, not my mother.”
That experience of love, struggle, and identity helped form joni’s core values of unapologetic inclusivity, radical transparency and being different on purpose. Biggs and co-founder Jayesh Vekariya founded the company in 2020 with a clear “why” - to continue the legacies of the mothers and communities who shaped them.
“Jayesh and I want to do more than just earn enough revenues to thrive and grow,” wrote Biggs. “We want to earn enough revenues to help our communities thrive and grow as a way to continue the legacies our mothers started.”
joni was selected to be part of the latest cohort of Communitech Fierce Founders Intensive Track to support women and non-binary founders. The program provides $50,000 in matching funds, mentorship and a collaborative environment where participants can share their experiences and challenges.
Just in time for Menstrual Hygiene Day on May 28, the company is launching a book to match its mission. BLEED, a new anthology curated by joni, features personal stories about periods from people of all backgrounds, ages and gender identities across North America.
“With BLEED, we are bringing our often overlooked stories into the light,” said Biggs. “Storytelling is powerful. By bringing conversations about menstruation into unconventional spaces, we move closer to menstrual equity.”
All profits from the book will support joni’s giveback program, which has already donated more than 900,000 products to organizations including Food Banks Canada, Moon Time Connections, The Period Purse, United Way and Project Aim.
