The Town of Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue in Quebec, Canada celebrates its designation as a Fair Trade Town by Transfair Canada.  Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue is the 13th Fair Trade Town in Canada and the fourth town in Quebec to be certified after Neuville, La Pêche, and the borough of  Hochelaga-Maisonneuve (Montréal).  The event will happen during the regular Farmer’s Market in front of the Town Hall (109, rue Sainte-Anne) between 9am and 2pm on Saturday.  Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue invites everyone to come have a free Fair Trade cup of coffee and learn more about the principles of Fair Trade and the Fair Trade Town campaign.

What is Fair Trade?

Fair Trade is about making changes to conventional trade, which frequently fails to deliver on promises of sustainable livelihoods and opportunities for people in the poorest countries in the world.  Poverty and hardship limit people’s choices while market forces tend to further marginalise and exclude them. This makes them vulnerable to exploitation, whether as farmers and artisans, or as hired workers within larger businesses.  That two billion of our fellow citizens survive on less than $2 per day, despite working extremely hard, suggests that there is indeed a problem.

Fair Trade seeks to change the terms of trade for the products we buy – to ensure the farmers and artisans behind those products get a better deal. Most often this is understood to mean ensuring better prices for producers, but it often also includes longer-term and more meaningful trading relationships.  (Source: www.transfair.ca)

For more information please contact Ryan Young at 514-457-9758 or email at ryoung@sadb.qc.ca

Source :    Gaétan Provost, Coordonnateur aux communications

Ville de Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue