About Fair Trade Vancouver
Fair Trade Vancouver works to advance equality, social justice and environmental sustainability by promoting a system that respects producers and artisans around the world. We seek to highlight the importance of individual choices and how our actions can contribute to building a global community. By purchasing Fair Trade products, consumers are contributing to the empowerment of individuals and communities around the world, ensuring the move towards a more equitable world.
Our Goals:
- To educate citizens of Metro Vancouver on how they can support people in the developing world by choosing Fair Trade in their everyday purchasing practices
- To increase the availability of Fair Trade products by working alongside Fair Trade retailers, distributors and suppliers
- To support and encourage businesses and organizations to adopt in-house Ethical Procurement policies that require Fair Trade products when available
- To assist campuses, towns, cities and municipalities to become Fair Trade universities and towns
- To have individuals, businesses, community and faith groups to commit to Fair Trade sourcing
- To lead a nationwide effort to increase the availability and prominence of Fair Trade in Canada
We Are:
- An independent volunteer based organization
- Not in the business of selling Fair Trade products nor do we allow anyone with a direct interest in selling Fair Trade products to sit on our Board of Directors or Steering Committee
- Not an enforcer or certifier of international Fair Trade standards, but we do work to promote these (more below on our relationship with certifiers).
What we've been up to:
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2011/2012 Annual General Meeting - Feb 20, 2012
We Believe:
In running an organization that adopts ethical policies beyond Fair Trade, we seek to share our resources and encourage others to do the same. Available here for download are the following:
Our Relationship with Fair Trade certifying bodies:
Third party Fair Trade Certification is important to us as it guarantees that companies are working within a Fair Trade system and are willing to be made accountable for their commitments to paying producers a fair price, providing them with safe working conditions, social premiums, and meeting environmental standards. We work with internationally recognized Fair Trade certification bodies: Fair Trade Canada, The Fair Trade Labeling Organization (FLO), The Fair Trade Federation (FTF), The World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) and IMO: Fair for life. To read more about these and Fair Trade visit our What is Fair Trade page.
Fair Trade Canada is the national initiative that certifies Fair Trade products in Canada, it is important to note that they are the institution responsible for setting and enforcing the standards of Fair Trade certification. For further information on where Fair Trade Vancouver stands with the certifying bodies and on who we support and why, please read our Endorsement strategies below.