The Fair
Trade Program

Citizens are increasingly aware of the injustices taking place in far too many plantations and factories in developing countries: human rights violations, disregard of basic needs and environmental degradation. Faced with the magnitude of these problems, many feel helpless and are unsure on how to bring about change.

The development of fairer trade between developing countries and their richer trading partners to the north is essential in order to improve the living conditions of millions of farmers and workers. This is why Équiterre promotes Fair Trade as a developmental tool. Fair Trade products ensure that farming coops and democratically run workers groups, who follow environmentally friendly agricultural guidelines, receive a fair price for their products. A portion of these revenues contributes to local development through projects in education, health, and environmental protection.

The overall purpose of the program is to promote public awareness on Fair Trade issues using among others the examples of coffee, tea, sugar, cocoa, and crafts. Efforts are made to encourage the development of these products in Canada and in developing countries.

Since 1996, several awareness campaigns were organized in Quebec and in other Canadian provinces including conferences, information stands, training workshops for citizens and market participants and two photo exhibits. In addition, extensive media outreach as well as the publication of educational tools have had an important impact on the development of Fair Trade over the last few years.