March was National Engineering Month across Canada, and for EWB’s 33 chapters, it marked the biggest date on the EWB calendar: National EWB Day. Each year, during the first week of March, thousands of EWB volunteers engage the public on a massive scale.

During EWB Day 2009, we helped Canadians make more informed consumer choices where it matters most, in the grocery store aisle.

“We realized that to shift consumer habits towards Fair Trade, we had to help people take the first step, and discover exactly how easy it is to switch to Fair Trade Certified products,” said Danny Howard, Director of Outreach and Advocacy for EWB Canada. “When consumers saw the impact they could have on developing communities with simple actions and had Fair Trade products sitting right in front of them, the choice was easy. Forming this first habit of purchasing Fair Trade is a great entry point for further engagement in development.”

This is not the first time EWB has used the immediate availability of Fair Trade Certified products to influence consumer habits. Over the last two years, EWB volunteers have handed out over one hundred thousand chocolate bars and hot chocolate samples donated by Cocoa Camino, allowing potential customers to taste the difference first-hand.

As EWB members were handing out samples of Fair Trade products in Canada, our overseas volunteers continued working with farmers in Ghana, helping to re-structure subsistence farms into income and profit-generating businesses. In Malawi, EWB volunteer Rob Borzychowski is working with the Mzuzu Coffee Trust towards Fair Trade certification, to ensure a better price for the farmers, as well as investment in local schools and community projects.

For EWB Day 2009, our enthusiasm and encouragement for Fair Trade took place in grocery stores, coffee shops, and on-campus food venues across the country, and the difference was felt immediately. “Grassroots advocacy continues to be one of the most important factors driving awareness and demand for Fair Trade products in Canada,” says Michael Zelmer, TransFair Canada’s Community Relations Manager. “The efforts of EWB’s members represents one of the most organized, grassroots, and geographically broad-scale Fair Trade campaigns I’ve seen in this country.”

Many student chapters were sure to stay close to their roots as well, engaging their campus community to not only ensure that the coffee served was Fair Trade, but also to begin the process of ensuring every university campus in Canada is offering Fair Trade wherever possible. At the University of British Columbia, this long-term vision began with one week of events, centred around ‘Coffee to End Poverty’, in which dozens of coffee shops on and off campus offered a Fair Trade blend and promoted it to their customers.

Perhaps the most obvious sign of shifting consumer trends, however, took place in produce sections across the country. At the Loblaws Fanshawe Market in London, Ontario, consumers were faced with options of regular bananas, and a Fair Trade Certified variety. After a full day of outreach from nearly a dozen volunteers from EWB’s University of Western Ontario chapter, the Fair Trade variety of bananas was sold out, and many consumers walked out with a new appreciation for the change they could create to build a better life for the farmers of developing communities.

Zelmer added his thoughts on EWB’s store outreach, saying “not only did EWB educate the public and measurably increase sales of Fair Trade products, they also educated staff and management, giving a supportive push that could lead purchasers up the chain to source more products from producers under Fair Trade conditions.”

From a single purchase to a deeper behaviour change; this is the change we seek in the Canadian consumer. The simple choice to purchase Fair Trade Certified goods on products Canadians consume every day—coffee, bananas, tea, oranges, chocolate, sugar and grapes—benefits producers in developing communities. Fair Trade ensures they receive a fair wage for their product, and sustained investment in their community for the education and health of their families.

With each purchase of Fair Trade certified goods getting closer and closer to this vision, this is just the beginning of a larger shift in Canadian purchasing habits and more equality in the global economy.

Fair Trade Certified goods are already available across Canada. On your next visit to your local grocer or coffee shop, ask for Fair Trade, and ensure that the products you buy carry the Fair Trade Certified logo. For more information visit Play Your Part and read the Fair Trade Times.