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The Office of the President of the University of Calgary, the Centre for Public Interest Accounting, Students’ Union, International Centre and Development Studies Club are pleased to sponsor a public forum on “Fair Trade: From production to final markets, a producers’ perspective” to examine the progress, priorities and challenges of fair trade producers and their ability to promote human development.

Questions include

▸ How is fair trade a tool for development and why is it important for millions of people?

▸ What challenges and opportunities do producers face in the Global South?

▸ How does fair trade compete in a unequal and free-market driven world?

▸ How can fair trade maintain its core social and economic values while reaching more communities?

This forum brings together universities, involved organizations, students and the public in general to examine and debate the future of fair trade in Canada and the world.

Attendees will learn to:  

1. expand their understanding of ethics, human development and corporate responsibility.

2. improve their knowledge of globalization and the role of fair trade in rural communities.

3. enhance their ability and capability to actively participate as citizens.

4. recognize how accounting can affect organizations and the public interest.

From production to final markets, a producers’ perspective

© 2007 Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada  | Terms of Use

Didier Gentilhomme

What is fair trade?

Contact Us:

Information: Carlos Vargas: carlos.vargas@haskayne.ucalgary.ca or (403) 220-8530

Media information: Katie Wattie kwattie@ucalgary.ca or (403) 220-6096

Fair Trade Movie:  Strong Coffee   |   Fair Trade Workshop   |  Fair Trade Movie:  Wal-Town    |    Fair Trade Market Day

PROGRAM

1. 1.  INTRODUCTION AND WELCOME                    9:00 - 9:10am
   

2. Vern Jones, Interim Dean, Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary 

1. 2.  ACCOUNTING FOR FAIR TRADE                    9:10 - 9:50am
   

2. Learn how fair trade depends on trust among all members of the production and consumption chain and how a myriad of coordination and communication mechanisms are currently used to help foster and maintain this trust. The presentation will highlight both the opportunities and challenges to developing trust and ensuring fairness for all participants. 
   

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5. Dean Neu, Director Centre for Public Interest Accounting, Haskayne School of Business.

1. 3.  COMMUNITIES, COMMUNITY-BASED ENTERPRISE & FAIR TRADE                     9:55 - 10:35am
   

2. Discover how new forms of community enterprises are born in the Andes as a collective response to hunger and poverty; and explore the roles of such enterprises as an alternative form of organization for fair trade especially among indigenous peoples.  
   

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5. Ana María Peredo, PhD, Associate Professor. University of Victoria, Canada Visiting Fellow Global Poverty Research Group. University of Oxford, UK

1. 4.  MAKING FAIR TRADE “WORK”                    10:45 - 11:25am
   

2. Explore how a group of fair trade clothing producers are always simultaneously outside and within the global apparel market. Hear how the market for fair trade clothing both “disciplines” this group of women and offers opportunities for learning and growth.  
   

1. Claudia Quintanilla, Founding Member, The Single Mothers Cooperative of El Salvador  

1. 5. FAIR TRADE AND MORAL LEADERSHIP                  11:30 - 12:10pm
   

2. Hear how the Canadian Federation of Students (Ontario) decided to spearhead an initiative to purchase almost 40,000 fairly traded t-shirts for incoming university students.  Discover how collective policies and student-based organizations can take an active role in promoting fair trade.  
   

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5. Jesse Greener, Past Ontario Chairman, Canadian Federation of Students

1. 6. CAFE FEMININO VIDEO: STRONG COFFEE                             12:45 - 1:45pm
   

2. See the video that recently premiered at the Calgary International Film Festival about a group of courageous women and their efforts to make fair trade a reality.  
   

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5. Sharron Bates, Producer and Director of Strong Coffee 

1. 7. LOCAL INITIATIVES SHAPING THE WORLD                    1:45 - 2:25pm
   

2. Find out how an umbrella organization in Dominican Republic has used fair trade as an instrument of social and economic development. Hear about this new wave of local initiatives that are shaping the developing world.                                              
   

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5. Abel Fernandez, National Confederation of Dominican Cocoa Producers, Dominican Republic.  

1. 8.  FROM COMMUNITY TO HUMAN DEVELOPMENT                    2:40 – 3:20pm
   

2. Discover how some small farmers in Guatemala opted for fair trade and what experiences it brought to the community itself. Learn how human development can be achieved without compromising environmental protection, education and social development. Lessons for the North. 
   

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5. Leocadio Juracán, Executive Director, Farmer’s Committee of Altiplano, Guatemala.   

1. 9. FAIR TRADE: AVOIDING PRIVATE INTEREST FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD?                   3:25 - 4:10pm
   

2. Learn how corporations might avoid strict standards when selling some of their own “fair trade” products and the importance of revisiting the core values of fair trade in Canada and elsewhere. A perspective on the future and challenges for the fair trade movement.  
   

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6. Gavin Fridell, Assistant Professor, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario. Author of “Fair Trade Coffee: The Prospects and Pitfalls of Market-Driven Social Justice.”     

1. 12:10  -  12:45 PM  LUNCH   

1. BREAK FOR 10 MINUTES                               Fair trade coffee and tea will be available

1. QUESTION AND ANSWER PERIOD                    4:10 - 5pm     

1. 10.  CONCLUDING REMARKS - END   

1. BREAK FOR 10 MINUTES                         Fair trade coffee and tea will be available 

Special thanks to:

Master of Ceremony: David Lertzman