Brandon Strengthens Its Commitment to Fair Trade
2025 and the first half of 2026 brought new initiatives to our work on the issue of fair trade. Fairtrade International’s system supports producers in the Global South in helping them export their products onto the global marketplace, ensure living wages and prices for their work and their commodities, supporting their efforts to provide education, healthcare, training and equipment in their local communities, and mitigating the impact of climate change.
The City of Brandon, the Marquis Project and Ten Thousand Villages-Brandon have cooperated in creating a Fair Trade Treat program with local restaurants, have participated in promotional events at the Brandon Villages store in the downtown area and at Assiniboine College, and most recently sent a strong contingent of City, Marquis and Villages representatives to the May 2026 National Fair Trade Conference in Winnipeg. Manitoba is well-known as a leader in the Fair Trade Movement in Canada.
Brandon Delegation at the Fair Trade Conference
Fairtrade is a branding of products that support better pay for producers in the Global South, better access for them into the global market, and more sustainable production that supports the environment and people within it. When you shop, look for Fairtrade coffee, tea, sugar, bananas, chocolate, hot chocolate, spices, clothing and a host of other products. Whether you shop at larger chain outlets or smaller local stores, Fairtrade products are now readily available and at moderate prices. Fairtrade coffee has become a mainstream product and Fairtrade bananas are carried in all Sobey’s stores across Canada!
- Ten Thousand Villages – large selection of Fair Trade products.
- Brandon Stores Fair Trade Products
- Fairtrade Products are Available at These Restaurants in the City of Brandon
- Marquis and the City of Brandon have won numerous awards from Fairtrade Canada for working on the issue of fair trade and that Brandon has been a Fair Trade Town since May 20, 2014.
- Zack Gross discusses the ideas behind the new Fair Trade Handbook
- Zack Gross (former Marquis Executive Director) for the Fairtrade Canada 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award.
See: News Release | Fairtrade Awards Website
A Fair Trade Town’s municipal staff support and use fair trade products and lend a staff person to help local citizens meet fair trade availability goals in restaurants, stores, gas stations, and other commercial outlets. Canada has 27 towns and cities that have been designated as Fair Trade Towns, four of which are in Manitoba: Winnipeg, Brandon, Selkirk and Gimli. Cities such as Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal are Fair Trade Towns.
See more:
- Certified Fairtrade wines from Manitoba Liquor Mart
- City of Brandon – A Fair Trade Town
- Fair Trade Town
- For more information visit Fairtrade Canada or Canadian Fair Trade Network
- Check out Facebook Marquis Fairtrade for more information