Revelstoke officially recognized as a Fair Trade Town

By David F. Rooney

Revelstoke has been officially recognized as a Fair Trade Town, says a member of the committee that has been working hard to achieve that goal.

Susan Knight of the Revelstoke Fair Trade Committee said Friday that the group is very pleased with the result of its months-long campaign to achieve Fair Trade Town status.

“I wasn’t sure we had done enough, but they said we had accomplished all of the goals,” she said Friday.

The group will be going to next Tuesday’s Council meeting formally announce the recognition and pose for a photo with Mayor David Raven and members of Council.

Knight said the the committee will continue to work on public awareness of Fair Trade. The movement seeks to ensure that peasant farmers in the developing world are paid a fair price for their coffee, cocoa and other products.

“Now that we’re recognized we have to hold two fair Trade events each year to retain our status,” she said. “One will be a public event during World fair Trade Day on May 8. The other we’d like to hold is a presentation of the film, The Age of Stupid, at the Roxy.”

The group will be fund-raising to acquire the cash — about $1,000 — to do that. In the meantime you can find out more about The Age of Stupid at www.ageofstupid.net. To discover more about TransFair Canada, the organization that oversees the Fair Trade movement in this country, please go to http://transfair.ca.