Concordia reaches Silver status as a Fair Trade Campus
Photo by Eight years ago, Concordia was named Canada’s 17th Fair Trade Campus, a key step in fulfilling its commitment to ethical procurement and sustainability. Today, the university can proudly announce it has achieved silver status, joining York University, the University of Toronto Mississauga and McGill University as one of only four Canadian campuses to reach this level. Simon Fraser University currently holds a gold status.
“This achievement speaks volumes about our university's values,” says Sabrina Lavoie, executive director of Budget Planning and Business Development at Concordia. “Achieving silver status required deep collaboration across the university. It wasn't just about meeting certain standards; it was about embedding the principles of fair trade and sustainability into our culture.”
How Concordia reached silver status
Efforts to achieve this level included expanding the Fair Trade Steering Committee to include more student groups and campus food service providers, requiring fair-trade coffee, tea and sugar in all food service contracts and encouraging independent food vendors on campus to switch to fair-trade products. Concordia’s BookStop locations also added fair trade–certified merchandise, such as t-shirts, long-sleeve shirts, tote bags and Camino products like chocolate bars and hot chocolate.
Oliver de Volpi, manager of Food Services, highlights the importance of these initiatives, noting, “We are always looking for ways to innovate and lead by example. Our signature Stingers Roast Coffee, launched in 2022, is sourced from women-owned cooperatives in Nariño, Colombia, and we’re proud to serve it across all our campus locations.”
Learning about the origins of Concordia’s fair-trade choices
Earlier this year, Concordia launched its first-ever Origin Trip, sending three students to visit the Colombian coffee cooperative behind Stingers Roast.
“That experience was transformative for our students,” de Volpi adds. “It gave them a firsthand understanding of the labour and care that go into coffee production. This is what fair trade is about — understanding and appreciating the people behind the products.”
Across campus, fair trade is embedded in everyday choices. Dining halls and cafes offer exclusive fair-trade coffee and tea, bananas and chocolate products. Popular cafes like the on-campus Starbucks and Van Houtte offer fair-trade coffee. The university’s Fair Trade Tuesdays initiative has become a favourite event, where buying a fair-trade baked good from a Concordia Food Services location gets customers a free cup of Stingers Roast.
Identifying fair trade on campus
Wondering how you can identify a fair-trade product on campus? Look for the fair-trade mark.
"The fair-trade mark is displayed prominently on the label or tag of all fair trade–certified items," explains de Volpi. "In cases like baked goods, which may not have packaging, there’s always signage to indicate that fair-trade ingredients were used.”
Celebrate Concordia’s Fair Trade Silver Campus milestone, enjoy some free fair-trade treats, and learn more about the university’s ongoing sustainability initiatives at these upcoming special events:
Silver Campus Milestone celebration:
- Tuesday, October 29, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Integrated Complex (EV Building).
Fair Trade Stinger Roast coffee events:
- Sir George Williams Campus: Tuesday, October 22, 8:30–11:30 a.m., EV Building Atrium
- Loyola Campus: Thursday, October 24, 8:30–11:30 a.m., Richard J. Reneau Science Complex