We are excited to share that St. Brother Andre’s Luke 4:18 Social Justice Council is well on their way making our school Fair Trade certified, which will be the first high school in Ontario and within YCDSB to reach this designation.
For the past two years, SBA’s Luke 4:18 Social Justice council has been striving to incorporate the concept of Fair Trade into the school community through a variety of initiatives and encourage the student body to become more aware of their purchasing power. Fair Trade ensures fair prices, humane working conditions, and livable wages for workers in developing countries and protects these workers from exploitative industries, commonly involving the production of cocoa, sugar, cotton, and coffee.
In an effort to inform our students on the importance of Fair Trade, our council has been working to integrate Fair Trade lessons into the curriculum. With the support of teachers, our goal is to provide an opportunity for more students to learn about the importance of Fair Trade and gain a deeper understanding of its positive impact. As Catholic students, this is also a great opportunity live out our faith in the real world by being mindful of our purchasing decisions and striving to uphold many of the social justice principles such as dignity of the worker, solidarity, preferential treatment of the poor and the common good.
To reach our goal of becoming fair trade certified, Cafe Andre has switched out its regular coffee and tea and replaced it with fair trade, which is available daily. We have also purchased some of our council t-shirts with organic fair trade cotton t-shirts from Assisi garments which trains, educates and employs marginalized women in India, and is run by Franciscan Nuns. Our school has also dedicated an entire event, Fair Trade Week, to raise awareness and provide students with an opportunity to purchase Fair Trade products. The students were offered Fair Trade tea, iced coffee, bananas and chocolate, as well as pins, educational pamphlets, and stickers throughout this week. Luke 4:18 also did a fantastic presentation to parent council and it was met with great enthusiasm and support by parents!
Thank you to everyone who worked on this valuable and worthy campaign and for everyone’s continued support.
Fair Trade Committee
Luke 4:18 Council & Exec Team: Mandy Lau, Peyton Clapperton, Isabel Simpliciano, Justina Yu, Samantha Hudson, Angelo Mirando, Angel Abraham
Teachers: Margie Orsi, Sharon Smyth, Daniela Raponi & VP Christine Cosentino