A special guest post by Mélissa Dubé, Outreach and Marketing Manager, Fairtrade Canada.
Meanwhile, in Canada… more than 50 campuses across the country are getting ready for the 5th annual edition of Fair Trade Campus Week! Campuses in all 10 Canadian provinces are gleefully working to prepare all sorts of dynamic activities to raise awareness about Fairtrade.
What is exactly Fair Trade Campus Week, you may wonder?
Fair Trade Campus Week is a fun-filled week bursting with activities where Campus life and businesses intersect to create tremendous educational and promotional opportunities for all. Each participating campus comes up with different activities to talk about Fairtrade. To give you an idea, last year 20 companies and 43 campuses participated with more than 23,000 people receiving Fairtrade product samples and many more who were engaged through different initiatives, including social media.
To support Campuses, 23 companies (including our friends Glee Gum!) have generously agreed to donate Fairtrade certified products. Imagine that: students across the country will learn about Fairtrade while happily chewing Glee Gum samples! Biggest Fairtrade bubble gum of all time next, perhaps?
Why do we do Fair Trade Campus Week?
Julie Francoeur, Fairtrade Canada’s Executive Director explains it best: “Campuses are first and foremost a place of learning. They have also always been the place where great ideas collide, revolutions take place and solutions to many of societies challenges are born. As the Sustainable Development Goals and the UN Guiding Principles for Businesses on Human Rights start to shape the way companies do business in the Global South, Fairtrade offers a vibrant concrete tool to empower development through trade. Campuses across Canada have been a force of nature for Fairtrade in the previous years and we are seeing companies and retailers across the country engaging with Fairtrade as a result of the deep commitment they sense from younger generations. Fair Trade Campus Week is a great opportunity for students to celebrate the impact they are having for farmers and workers across the world. That Fairtrade cup of coffee won’t only help you stay awake through that early morning lecture or to finish that paper, it also helps an entire coffee community!”
Find out more about the impact of our work by visiting our website and our sister organization Fairtrade America for more details.
What’s new this year?
Every year, new Campuses and businesses jump on board and this generates new ideas and potential new partnerships (as an example, Concordia University became Canada’s first Campus to carry 100% Fairtrade bananas). We’re excited to witness innovative ways that Campuses will take to talk about Fairtrade. In the meantime, there are a couple of new planned initiatives that folks can take part in:
– On Tuesday, September 26 at 4pm ET, we invite everyone to take part in our first ever Twitter Chat to talk about Fair Trade Campus Week. Participants could win a bag of Fairtrade products! Make sure to use #ChatFairtrade and to follow us @fairtradecanada.
– By now, you probably understood that Canadian campuses are always ready to go above and beyond, and this year they’re doing exactly that again! Campuses across the country are leading the World’s Largest Fair Trade Bake Sale on September 28, a day that folks will want to make their way to a Campus to indulge in sweets made with Fairtrade Ingredients. For more details: fairtradebakesale.ca
Get active!
Bookmark our Tumblr page to stay in the loop and make sure to use the hashtags #FTCampus and #CampusÉquitable! Specific to the World’s Largest Fair Trade Bake Sale, be sure to use #fairtradebakesale and #ventepatisseriesequitables.
Happy Fair Trade Campus Week to all!
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