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January 26, 2012
Eye View
What does Golden, B.C. (population 4,400) have that Kamloops doesn’t?
Designation as a Fair Trade Town, that’s what. So do 15 towns and cities across
Canada, including Vancouver. More than 20 others have applied.
Achieving Fair Trade Town status is not a cakewalk. It requires a sincere
commitment by city council, businesses, schools and community leaders for an
application to succeed. Fair Trade Towns support not only social justice for
those who grow our food but a commitment to a sustainable supply chain.
Fair Trade provides a fair return to suppliers because small importers can buy
directly from producers and circumvent large, multi-national corporations that
often keep suppliers and regions in an impoverished and dependent state.
If Kamloops were to become a Fair Trade Town, we would join millions of
Canadians who respect the labour of farmers, fair prices for suppliers,
sustainability of the environmental, and more direct and equitable trade.
Regulation of Fair Trade Towns is done through Fairtrade Canada, a member of the
international Fairtrade Foundation. The exact process for application varies
slightly from place to place depending on the circumstances but there are six
goals that must be achieved before a town is awarded status. They are all listed
on the Fairtrade.ca website but here’s the general idea.
The goals can be achieved in any order. One of the goals would be support from
Kamloops City Council. This support could be demonstrated through the use of
Fair Trade coffee, tea, sugar and other items used in municipal meetings and
facilities. Also, stores and restaurants would switch to Fair Trade products.
Some Kamloops businesses already do so and that’s a good start.
And many Kamloops community groups also support the Fair Trade objective. We all
could help with simple things. For example, on holidays like Valentine’s Day and
others, give Fair Trade chocolate; it tastes better and provides a warm glow of
satisfaction from doing the right thing.
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Vancouver’s application was fairly easy because they already had the support
of stores, schools, universities, and faith groups. Vancouver has had an
ethical purchasing policy since 2005. Vancouver City Council’s support was
just the last thing to be done before approval in 2010.
“We want to be the greenest city in the world” boasted Vancouver Mayor
Gregor Robertson, “and a big part of that is ensuring that our goods and
services are produced and delivered in a responsible way.”
Kamloops already supports the sale of Fair Trade goods through the sale of
goods from Ten Thousand Villages. Olds, Alberta, used that connection in
their application as Fair Trade Town.
Students from the College of the Rockies in the Kootenays helped the towns
of Nakusp and Golden achieve status. Schools in Nakusp promoted Fair Trade
Certified goods through the purchase of soccer balls for sports and other
products sold at the Nakusp Music Festival.
Fair Trade is more than a lofty goal; it’s a systematic method of ensuring
that producers not only receive fair compensation but that labour standards,
sustainable farming, governance and democratic principles are adhered to.
Beware of some fair trade labels. Only Fair Trade products have the proper
logo that signifies that they have met the high standards of FLO-Cert, an
international body that ensures Fair Trade standards.
Kamloops is already recognized for its support of Fair Trade but we need to
make the next step. Michael Zelmer from Fairtrade Canada told me that
although no application has yet been received from Kamloops, “you have some
good people promoting Fair Trade in Kamloops.”
David Charbonneau is the owner of Trio Technical.
He can be reached at
dcharbonneau13@shaw.ca
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