Humber College’s Lakeshore Campus has been designated as Fair Trade since 2017, when Humber became the first college in Ontario to attain the standard. In 2019, the North Campus received its own Fair Trade Campus designation. 

A Fair Trade Campus is required to carry products that meet certain Fairtrade benchmarks, including economic, health and labour regulations. The standards help guarantee that products were produced without child labour or unfair labour practices. 

“The campuses provide a range of Fairtrade products, engage students and help promote the fair trade movement,” said Kylie Brezden, project and research intern in the Office of Sustainability. 

“It helps influence the implementation of purchasing policies and drives the movement forward.” 

In 2018, Humber College won the Fair Trade Campus All Star award. The award is given to the campus with the most engagement on social media.  The sustainability team have their sights set on a 2020 win. 

 Humber students can help the college win the title again by posting with the hashtag #FTCW20 and sharing photos of their favourite fairtrade products. 

The Office of Sustainability also has plans achieve the Fair Trade Campus Silver designation for both campuses. 

The department will be coordinating with food producers and providers on campus, offering more and different types of products and increasing efforts to communicate and reach out to students. 

Online experience 

Fair Trade Campus Week runs from October 26 to October 30 this year. All events and initiatives will happen online rather than on campus due to COVID-19 restrictions. 

The Office of Sustainability is collaborating with Humber’s Retail Services to host two events: an ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) Fairtrade Coffee Routine and a fair trade trivia game. 

The Office of Sustainability will host the trivia game while Retail Services demonstrate their popular Fairtrade banana muffin recipe. 

Students can access the ASMR experience on Tuesday at the @sustainhumber Instagram account. They can also register for the trivia event, happening Thursday at noon. 

On Friday, the Office of Sustainability will host another event on Instagram, called “Q+A: What does it mean to be a Fair Trade Campus?” to conclude the week. If you are interested in learning more about Fair Trade Campus and Fairtrade Canada, visit the Fair Trade Campus Week website where the organization is hosting a speaker series and online events.