| Next time you bite into your favourite chocolate bar or indulge in a triple chocolate mocha latte, keep in mind your momentary pleasure may be the result of someone else’s pain.
That’s the message the newly formed Calgary Fair Trade Coalition is hoping to get across to Calgarians. The group wants to make people start thinking about how the products they’re consuming are produced and whether or not the people producing them are being economically exploited so people in the first world can buy cheaper products.
"When I go to the grocery store and I find something really cheap I think somebody is getting screwed over or really nailed," says Daniel Martinez, one of the organizers of the coalition.
Martinez describes fair trade as "bringing closer the gap between producer and consumer" and ensuring that producers aren’t taken advantage of for the economic benefit of the middlemen and the consumer.
He says there are already quite a few different groups working to promote fair trade in the city but the coalition will enable people to coordinate efforts and share resources.
Fair Trade is mainly about ensuring that farmers or agricultural workers are paid a living wage for their work and ensuring that no human rights abuses are committed, says Martinez. Fair Trade proponents also support "democratization" of industries. They encourage farmers and workers to form cooperatives so they have more economic power.
In order for a product to be considered Fair Trade it has to receive a certified logo from a recognized organization such as Transfair Canada which adheres to monitoring criteria and standards established by Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International.
Martinez says Fair Trade is necessary because small farmers are often forced to sell their products to brokers rather than being able to sell them directly, and at a fair market price, to export markets. Middlemen tend to pay the farmers very poorly in order to reap large profits.
In the case of cocoa, some West African countries have a history of forcing child slaves to work in cocoa fields.
Martinez is hoping that the new coalition will make people think about the link between the producer and consumer and that people will choose to buy fair trade goods whenever they can.
"When you buy a product you’re basically encouraging a practice," he says.
Martinez says there’s a divide amongst Fair Trade activists on the goal of the movement. Some people think the goal should be to create a niche market of Fair Trade goods within the larger commodity market. Others believe that Fair Trade should "encourage radical change" in the world. Martinez places himself in the second group.
The new coalition plans to start lobbying local businesses and the City of Calgary to buy certified fair trade cocoa and coffee but the first item on their agenda is a Fair Trade Festival to try and educate people on the issue. The festival will take place on May 8 from 10-3 p.m. at the Carpenter’s Union Hall. |
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