Ste. Anne de Bellevue, a Certified Fair Trade Town

On Saturday, Ste. Anne de Bellevue became the third town in the province and the first in the West Island to be certified as a fair trade town. Around 300 residents who were passing by Farmer’s Market tasted some coffee offered by the Coopérative du Grand Orme and learned more about fair trade from the co-op staff.

Co-op founder Véronique Vendette and her colleagues were on location to serve not only coffee but fair trade chocolate and bananas. The food and the good news brought good moods to the residents who visited the co-op’s kiosk.

“I think it’s a step in the right direction. Maybe the next step could be to create more green spaces, a permanent site for the Farmer’s Market. Maybe they could enlarge the market and continue supporting it too,” says Frédéric Thériault.

As for Ms. Vendette, she hopes this accomplishment will inspire neighbouring municipalities.

“What’s great about this is that a lot of people come to Farmer’s Market from other towns. This will put a lot of pressure on other towns to move forward in that direction too,” she says.

To become a certified fair trade town, Ste. Anne de Bellevue had to satisfy the six conditions set by Transfair, the fair trade labelling organization in Canada. First off, the local council needed to use fair trade certified products and support the Fair Trade Towns campaign.

Secondly, some stores and restaurants had to serve fair trade certified products. Some workplaces, faith groups and schools needed also to use and promote fair trade certified products. There had to be public awareness events and media coverage held on fair trade and the campaign. Other ethical and sustainable initiatives had to be promoted within the community and finally, a steering group was required to be created for continued commitment.

Town councillor Ryan Young believes this certification is just the beginning for Ste. Anne de Bellevue in terms of ecologically- and socially-responsible initiatives.

“We’re starting a process right now of making a sustainable development plan for the whole municipality. We’re asking for a grant from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to help us do that. That will basically guide a sustainable vision for the whole municipality for the future,” he says.