The United Way Peterborough & District’s 10th annual Period Promise campaign has collected 41,556 menstrual hygiene products for those in need.

The results, announced at noon on Monday (March 16) at the United Way’s office at 277 Stewart Street, far exceed the campaign goal of collecting 25,000 products, and is almost double the 2022 record of 23,000 products.

Formerly called Tampon Tuesday, the Period Promise campaign collected 29,366 pads, 4,533 liners, 7,550 tampons, 55 reusable period underwear, 26 cups, 12 disposable discs, seven reusable pads, and seven disposable underwear.

The donated products, with an estimated value of $20,725, will be distributed by Kawartha Food Share to local food banks and other agencies to get items into the hands of those who struggle to afford them on their own.

According to a 2023 survey, one in four people in Canada who menstruate have had to choose between purchasing menstrual products and purchasing other essential items like food or paying rent. This could result in people relying on unsafe alternatives, like using a product for too long, or missing out on school, work, and social events because they don’t have the right protections.

In addition to collecting menstrual hygiene products, the Period Promise campaign was intended to open opportunities for dialogue about menstruation and make people who menstruate — including women, trans men, and non-binary people — more comfortable discussing the realities of their bodily experience by focusing on inclusion, awareness building, advocacy, and greater diversity of product options.

“We still have a lot of work to do in terms of normalizing menstruating as a whole, as this process is not talked about nearly enough,” said Lindsay Young, trans peer outreach worker and trans family support worker at Canadian Mental Health Association, Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge, in a media release.

“One big step moving forward would be to talk about the way different bodies menstruate, allowing for more inclusive and diverse products and conversations.”

In that spirit, Monday’s campaign announcement was preceded by a free informal workshop led by holistic menstrual health guide Heather Litster of Moon & Bloom and Women and HIV/AIDS initiative coordinator Meagan Vaughan at Peterborough AIDS Resource Network (PARN). The workshop covered menstrual health foundations and issues surrounding period poverty, as well as recommending ways the community can work together to advance menstrual equity.

The United Way team behind the Period Promise — campaign community impact officer Elisha Rubacha and campaign officers Elyse Belsey and Adeline Murphy — was supported by Peterborough & District Labour Council (represented at the announcement by Trish Bucholtz), Kawartha Food Share (represented at the announcement by Ashlee Aitken), and kawarthaNOW as media sponsor.

The team collaborated with several organizations and workplaces, including three International Women’s Day events hosted by Kawartha World Issues Centre, The Tiffany Show, and Delta Phi Nu at Trent University that ran menstrual product drives as part of their events.

Several workplaces also ran internal collection drives, the City of Peterborough provided three public drop-off locations at City Hall, Miskin Law Community Complex, and the Peterborough Public Library. The Women’s Business Network of Peterborough kicked off this year’s Period Promise campaign by donating 6,101 items alone — representing nearly one quarter of this year’s goal.

With files by Megan Gallant.

A second fee-for-service family physician is joining the Northcrest Medical Clinic in April.

Dr. Onifade will join his colleague Dr. Tosin Tifase, who began working Northcrest Pharmacy and Medical Clinic in February 2025 after relocating from the United Kingdom with support from the City of Peterborough’s physician recruitment coordinator Chantal Van Parys.

The support Dr. Tifase received from Van Parys encouraged him to recommend Dr. Onifade also relocate to Peterborough, according to a media release from the city.

Dr. Tifase and Dr. Onifade provides family practice services for rostered patients during regular and after-hours sessions, including urgent care. Dr. Tosin has rostered 2,200 patients and, with the addition of Dr. Onifade, the clinic expects to serve another 2,000 patients without a regular family doctor.

Formerly Fadhil’s Pharmasave and owned by Vijay Sappani and Sam Kanni, Northcrest Pharmasave Pharmacy and Northcrest Medical Clinic is located at 184 Marina Boulevard and is open six days a week.

Clinic hours for registered family medicine patients are 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Sunday, by appointment only. For family practice registration, visit the clinic in person to complete a registration form.

Both Dr. Tifase and Dr. Onifade are fee-for-service physicians. In this model, doctors submit a bill to the provincial government for every service or procedure they perform according to a schedule of services and fees negotiated with the province.

According to the Canadian Medical Association, around 70 per cent of doctor payments in Canada are fee-for-service, and 96 per cent of doctors in Canada receive at least a portion of their compensation through this model.

The other model for doctor payments is known as capitation where, instead of being paid per service, doctors receive a fixed annual payment for every patient they add to their roster. The Canadian Medical Association states that family physicians in Ontario are increasingly shifting to capitation models. Around 60 per cent of family physicians now use either a fully capitated payment model or a blended one that combines fee-for-service and capitation.

The OHIP fee-for-service model is commonly used in many health care settings, including long-term care, where physicians often bill OHIP using fee-for-service codes alongside other supports, as well as in many independent and urgent care clinics.

The original version of this story has been updated with information about how doctors receive payment in Ontario (fee-for-service and capitation).

The Ontario government has announced it will end funding for Peterborough’s Consumption and Treatment Services (CTS) site, which has been in operation for almost four years.

The Peterborough CTS site is one of seven CTS sites the Ontario government is closing in communities that now have a Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hub funded by the province.

“Our government is focused on treatment, recovery, and safer communities,” said Ontario health minister Sylvia Jones in a media release on Monday (March 16). “Through our almost $550 million investment to establish HART Hubs across the province, we are ensuring people struggling with addiction can access the care and supports they need to break the tragic cycle of addiction and rebuild their lives while protecting Ontario communities.”

Located in the former bus terminal at 220 Simcoe Street in downtown Peterborough, the CTS opened in June 2022 to provide a safe and medically supported space for people to consume pre-obtained drugs under the supervision of health professionals. People using the CTS are provided with sterile injection supplies, education on safer consumption practices, drug checking, basic medical services, and referrals to addiction treatment services, housing, and other social services.

The CTS is operated by Four Counties Addictions Services (Fourcast), which is also leading Peterborough’s HART Hub, one of 28 approved across Ontario.

The creation of HART Hubs resulted from the province’s August 2024 “safer communities” announcement that banned supervised drug consumption sites within 200 metres of schools and child care centres. It resulted in the closure of nine existing provincially funded supervised drug consumption sites, including four in Toronto as well as sites in Guelph, Hamilton, Thunder Bay, Ottawa, and Kitchener-Waterloo. CTS sites that were not located within 200 metres of schools and child care centres continued to receive funding.

Along with Peterborough, the other six sites that will no longer receive provincial funding as a result of Monday’s announcement include two sites in Toronto, two sites in Ottawa, one site in Niagara, and one site in London.

“This latest step responds directly to local concerns over public safety associated with these sites and furthers the government’s plan to fund treatment and lasting recovery from addiction, rather than continued public funding of drug injection sites,” reads the province’s media release.

The Ontario government states it will initiate a 90-day wind-down period “to give clients time to transition to the support provided by their local HART Hub.”

“During this period the government will work directly with the municipalities and community partners to ensure a safe, coordinated wind-down of provincial funding for the drug injection sites and successful transition into the new model of recovery,” the media release states.

In January 2025, the Ontario government announced $6.2 million for Peterborough’s HART Hub for local service delivery partners to provide a continuum of services for people with complex service needs on their recovery journey from addictions and homelessness.

It delivers primary and psychiatric care, mental health and addictions services (including case management, Rapid Access Addiction Medicine (RAAM), withdrawal management, bed-based addictions treatment, and aftercare), peer recovery coaches, mental health and addictions supportive housing (both transitional and permanent) and dual diagnosis supportive housing with 24/7 community wrap-around services, occupational therapy, and vocational services.

Like all of the HART Hubs funded by the province, the Peterborough hub will not offer safer supply, supervised drug consumption, or needle exchange programs — leaving a gap in services for people living with addiction who are not in treatment.

Harm reduction advocates and healthcare professionals have objected to the provincial government’s decision to shut down CTS sites, stating they decrease public drug use and save lives and reduce pressure on the healthcare system by preventing overdoses.

According to Lakelands Public Health (the health unit formed by the merger of Peterborough Public Health and the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit), the Peterborough CTS site recorded over 15,000 visits between January 2023 and August 24 and successfully managed 104 drug poisonings without a single fatality.

In December 2025 alone, 896 individuals (including repeat visitors) used the site, with 28 per cent of these visits for services other than the consumption of drugs, such as substance use support and treatment, housing, health services, and mental health resources.

Statement from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) has issued a statement that “strongly condemns” the province’s move.

“Safe consumption sites are proven harm-reduction measures that support people who use drugs and people living with addiction. This decision will make it harder to access essential, life-saving health services.”

“Communities across Ontario and throughout Canada are facing an unprecedented toxic drug crisis, alongside escalating homelessness and mental health challenges. This is a moment that demands expanded, evidence-based supports — not reduced access to critical, lifesaving health care services.”

“This misguided decision will put vulnerable and marginalized people at greater risk and will cost lives. The loss of funding for these services will disproportionately harm already marginalized communities, including Indigenous and racialized people, as well as those experiencing poverty and homelessness, who face systemic barriers to accessing health care and other supports.”

Statement from HIV Legal Network and the HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario

The HIV Legal Network and the HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario (HALCO) has also issued a statement to “unequivocally denounce” the province’s decision, calling consumption and treatment services sites “hubs of community care and support that reduce the risk of overdose and HIV infection, backed by decades of empirical evidence proving their effectiveness.”

“Despite this, the Government of Ontario has tried to systematically dismantle these services since it came into power,” the statement reads. “In 2018, it arbitrarily limited the number of sites that Ontario would fund. In the years that followed, Ontario continued to defund sites or refused to fund new ones.”

According to the HIV Legal Network and HALCO, overdose rates in Toronto alone increased by 50 per cent in January 2026 compared to January 2025 when the province closed the majority of CTS sites in Toronto, “despite warnings from the government’s own experts that overdoses would increase.”

“What we know right now is that more people will die without access to the lifesaving care they receive at supervised consumption sites. These sites exist within our communities and make them better and safer for everyone. We will continue to support the fight to keep them open and keep our community members alive and well.”

Statement from Lakelands Public Health

A statement from Lakelands Public Health “acknowledges and thanks Fourcast for the important work they have done, and continue to do, to support individuals who use substances by providing access to services, treatment connections, and compassionate care” and notes that, without alternate funding, the Peterborough CTS will close.

“Programs that provide harm reduction services and pathways to treatment are an important part of a comprehensive public health approach to addressing substance use and the ongoing drug poisoning crisis,” the statement reads.

“Continuity of services that support people who use substances is an important component of protecting community health, particularly at a time when many communities continue to experience the impacts of the toxic drug supply.”

Lakelands Public Health adds that it “will continue to collaborate with local drug strategies to understand the impacts of this change and to support individuals who may be affected.”

Statement from Peterborough 360 Degree Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic

A statement from the Peterborough 360 Degree Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic, which provides primary care and health system navigation for marginalized and vulnerable population, notes that the closure of the Peterborough CTS “will have significant and far-reaching effects — not only for individuals who relied on this service, but for the broader community and the many partners who support it.”

“The closure of the CTS represents not only the loss of a critical harm reduction service, but also the loss of an important entry point into primary care for individuals who often face substantial barriers to accessing traditional healthcare,” the statement reads.

“This comes at a time when our clinic has already experienced reductions in harm reduction capacity, including the loss of funding for the Safer Supply Program (SSP) last year. Programs like SSP and CTS are not standalone services — they are interconnected components of a broader continuum of care that support engagement, stability, and safety. Evidence shows that supervised consumption services and related harm reduction programs reduce overdose deaths, improve access to treatment, and act as critical gateways into healthcare and social supports.”

“The closure of the CTS is expected to increase pressure on the Emergency Department, as more individuals will require acute care for overdoses and related complications that were previously managed in a supervised setting. In addition, the loss of on-site nursing care — including preventative wound care — means more untreated infections and complications, further driving avoidable hospital visits. This added demand will contribute to longer wait times and increased strain on an already overburdened system.”

“The impacts of this closure will extend well beyond the healthcare sector. Without a comparable service in place, we can expect increased pressures on paramedic services and police, who will see a rise in overdose responses and crisis calls. Public spaces — including the library, transit hubs, and other shared community environments — will experience increased challenges as individuals who previously accessed supervised care are displaced. Public works teams will also face increased demands related to community safety and public space maintenance.”

The statement adds that, while organizations such as Fourcast, PARN (Peterborough AIDS Resource Network), and Peterborough Regional Health Centre’s Rapid Access Addiction Medicine (RAAM) Clinic will continue to support people who use substances through treatment, recovery, and harm reduction services, “gaps in care will inevitably emerge” with the closure of the CTS.

“The CTS has been a vital point of connection for many individuals, and its closure will leave a noticeable void.”

The original version of this story has been updated with statements from the HIV Legal Network and the HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario (HALCO), Lakelands Public Health, and the Peterborough 360 Degree Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic.

Maryam Monsef’s ONWARD and the Peterborough and Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce are partnering to host a community-focused gathering at the end of March about the status of women in the community, in honour of the late trailblazer Ann Farquharson.

“A Conversation about the Status of Women in our Community” is being held at the Market Hall Performing Arts Centre in downtown Peterborough from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesday, March 31 with sponsorship from Kawartha Financial Services, Electric City Real Estate, kawarthaNOW, East City Flower Shop, and the Peterborough Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA).

Tickets are priced at $49.95 plus tax and can be purchased at pkchamber.ca.

“March is a very special month for women with International Women’s Day on the 8th, but also March 9th was Ann Farquharson’s birthday,” says Monsef, the former MP for Peterborough who was also federal Minister for Women and Gender Equality from 2017 to 2021.

“I haven’t met anyone who loves birthdays as much as she did, so given the inspiration and the support she was for so many in our community, particularly women, it felt fitting to honour her on her birthday month with a gathering that brings women and those who care about us together for an important conversation about the status of women.”

The event is a follow up to the “How Women Superpower the Economy” event that ONWARD presented in 2025 shortly after Trump resumed presidency of the United States. That event was designed to discuss how tariffs would impact women given that they often superpower the economy with “invisible work” like emotional labour and caring for loved ones.

“What we forget, and what history and research shows us again and again, is that women are hit hardest in these times,” Monsef says. “Many of the people who came (to last year’s event) left feeling invigorated and inspired and they said they want more. They want to delve deeper into topics like health, safety, money, and leadership, so this is a follow-up to that conversation.”

Also featuring a light lunch and refreshments an opportunity to network with other women and allies in the community, this year’s event will offer engaging discussions covering key topics like women’s leadership, economic empowerment, gender equity, intersectional barriers, community impact, and pathways forward.

“The war in the Middle East is going to have implications for everyone all over the world,” Monsef notes. “I believe this event is going to create a space for us to talk about how geopolitics, and the threat for more tariffs, are going to continue to affect women in our economy and in our community, and what the role for women is in moments like this.”

Speakers at the event include The Tiffany Show’s Tiffany Arcari, DBIA executive director Nour Mazloum, Chamber president and CEO Brenda Whitehead, Curve Lake First Nation artist Missy Knott, and Peterborough MP Emma Harrison.

“The idea is to convene a room full of women supporting each other and those who care about us and to build community in a really difficult moment for all of us,” Monsef says. “In scary, unsettling times, it’s easy to feel alone and so we’re offering a chance to come together in community.”

Monsef paraphrases a quote from Prime Minister Mark Carney earlier this year about middle powers acting together — “If we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu.” — and applies it to gender quality.

“If we’re not at the table raising our voices about what we bring to the table and how we might be affected negatively, then our experiences won’t be included in the way that they should be in the decisions that are to come,” Monsef says. “This is an opportunity for us to be at the table and in community and be reminded that we are all in this together, and that we have the good fortune to live in a country like Canada where our voices matter.”

This, Monsef says, is work that Farquharson would have supported.

A prominent lawyer and former city councillor who had a long history of civic leadership, serving on boards and committees for a large number of organizations in Peterborough, Farquharson died unexpectedly in her sleep on November 24 at the age of 68. As a proud feminist, she devoted much of her life to advocating for women’s health and safety.

A longtime friend and supporter, Monsef calls Farquharson a “mobilizing force” who brought the community together, made it better for everyone, and whose “significant loss” has been felt widely.

“I think she’d be proud to know that we’re coming together in solidarity, in community, in celebration, and that we’re making a day of it where we’re going to have a nice lunch and we’re going to network and hopefully build some business-to-business connections in the process,” says Monsef.

“She would have been proud of that and that we’re talking about serious issues that women and children and our families in this community are experiencing, and trying to give voice to those who can’t come out to these events.”

kawarthaNOW is proud to be the media sponsor of for “A Conversation About The Status of Women In Our Community.”