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Canadian Field Is Going Fair-Trade
(From Saints Herald, April 2011)
Eliminate coyotes! - That was the first project of the newly formed Canadian Peace and Justice Committee. We were referring to the two-legged ‘coyotes’, the middle-men who charge such exorbitant interest rates for coffee farmers that the farmers are perpetually in debt.
Enter “Fair Trade.” Fair trade is a strategy for poverty alleviation and sustainable development. The purpose is to create opportunities for producers who have been disadvantaged or marginalized by the traditional economic model. It still uses the market mechanism, giving such “valued-added” as eliminating coyotes, paying fairer, stable wages, encouraging better environmental practices, and so on.
We started with coffee. Canadians consume more than 40 million cups of coffee per day (in the U.S. It is 400 million). It is the second-most legally traded commodity in the world, next to oil. Most Canadian-bought coffee gives farmers about 11 cents for every dollar spent by the public. Under Fair Trade, they receive about 28 cents. According to US Senate testimony, that difference allows farmers to hold onto their land and support their families, to build schools and community center that provide health care and vaccination programs for children. In addition they achieve a sustainable income and do not have to rely on growing cocaine or foreign aid.
D & C 163: 3ab 4a - “You are called to create pathways in the world for peace in Christ to be relationally and culturally incarnate. Courageously challenge cultural, political, and religious trends that are contrary to reconciling and restoring purposes of God. God weeps for the poor, displaced, mistreated and diseased of the world.”
We are called to right the injustices of the world. Fair Trade is a beginning by helping us more closely align our buying habits with such a call. It brings hope, dignity and better living conditions to the producer-community.
The Canadian Peace and Justice Committee is endeavoring to help all congregations within the Canadian Field to buy Fair Trade coffee. Currently almost all of Canada West Mission Center is on board and a growing number from Canada East Mission Center.
As one Pastor stated: “Our members take some satisfaction in knowing that the coffee is in some small way helping to alleviate poverty. Many of our members now only drink fair trade coffee at home as well.”
The desire for fair trade coffee has grown to the extent that several major supermarket chains and specialty coffee shops now carry it. Thus it is not hard to find the products; you just have to make a choice. So will that be just a cup of coffee or a just cup of coffee?
