‘An issue of justice’: Port Colborne marks 15 years as a fair trade town
It was perhaps fitting that Port Colborne used the setting of its weekly farmers’ market to celebrate 15 years of being a fair trade town.
After all, the market is a place where shoppers can not only pick up harvested produce; they can also meet the farmers growing the food they put on their tables.
Jane Nigh, a member of the city’s fair trade committee and manager of Villages Port Colborne, an all fair trade non-profit, said that while patrons in the store — formally Ten Thousand Villages — can’t speak with the artisans and growers of the products they carry, she can make sure their stories are heard.
By way of example, Nigh said her store carries jewelry made by a woman named Lilya, a former sex trade worker who learned the craft through the Starfish Project. Starfish slowly befriends girls working in brothels in Asian cities and invites them to work with them to make jewelry. They also impart life skills, with the goal of having these young women move on to a life of their choosing.
“We try to show how fair trade is making a difference,” said Nigh.
“It’s an issue of justice,” Nigh added. “We in the global north live so well and take advantage of all the artisans and all the workers, the people who make our clothes, the people who grow our food — our coffee, our tea, our chocolate — and they are living in such difficult and exploitive situations often.”
Nigh was involved in the early efforts to make Port Colborne a certified fair trade town. At the time, the city already had Ten Thousand Villages — which closed its Canadian operations prior to the pandemic — as well as a fair trade café o West Street. She had read about the town of Wolfville, a small town in Nova Scotia, which became the first certified community in Canada and realized Port Colborne had the resources to follow suit.
“I just suddenly realized that, hey, if Wolfville can be a fair trade town and bring attention to fair trade in our country, Port Colborne can too,” she said.
To be certified, a municipality must meet a per capita threshold of businesses selling and serving a minimum of two fair trade products. It also takes buy-in from the broader community, including churches, schools and municipal government.
Port Colborne had this, which made a difference, said fellow committee member Kellen Spence, who’s also a managing partner of Dharma Fairtrade, a fair trade certified soap and candle business.
The city became the first in Ontario to be certified, with many others, including larger cities like Toronto, eventually following suit.
“The leadership has been there,” he said. “We’re fortunate that city council was an early adopter in Port Colborne. I think a lot of why it takes longer to catch on in some places is because of that barrier. You’re offering products that are more expensive than traditionally — not by much — but some city councils have had trouble seeing the benefit.”
For Spence, the benefit is putting the power to make a difference in consumers’ hands. It’s not always an easy sell convincing people to pay a bit more for products. The key is not to pressure them, he said, but to educate them about where that premium goes.
“It provides a better living for the farmer or producer in a developing country,” he said. “It allows these communities to invest that added premium in education, water treatment or infrastructure for the community.”
As with many initiatives, the pandemic slowed things down for fair trade in Port Colborne.
This includes annual recertification for fair trade towns, which had been put on hold but are finally being restarted. Nigh said she hopes to get the momentum going again, noting in the past McKay Public School was a certified fair trade school, a designation she’d like to see it regain.
“It’s about just promoting fair trade in our community, trying to have Port Colborne be a leader in a fair future in our world,” she said.
Friday’s celebration, which coincided with World Fair Trade Day, could provide that momentum boost.
Coun. Dave Elliott, the council representative on the committee, said the small group — there’s just three community members on the committee — was able to put a lot together quickly for the day despite their small numbers.
“I didn’t realize that a small committee could do so much so fast, but it has,” he said.
“The committee is outstanding in their passion for this.”