David Hall says the notion of Fair Trade products is gaining ground in Canada, evidenced by the popularity of the first non-agricultural Fair Trade certified product in the world - sports balls.
Hall is a member of the Y Service Club of Ottawa, a non-profit group with a licence to import Fair Trade sports balls from Pakistan. The balls are distributed across Canada, as well as the United States.
Fair Trade is a partnership that ensures producers and workers are paid a fair wage for their product and are treated with respect. Hall says the Fair Trade premium helps fund health care, education, child care, pensions and increased wages in developing parts of the world.
After the 11-year civil war in Sierra Leone ended in January 2002, Hall says the Y Service Club of Ottawa joined forces with a group of organizations to raise money for the war-torn African nation. It is estimated that about 50,000 people were killed and 500,000 displaced to neighbouring countries as a result of the conflict.
After fundraising for three years, Hall says $500,000 was raised. While looking for another cause to pursue, one of the partners involved in raising money for Sierra Leone said they were exploring the possibility of importing Fair Trade sports balls into Canada but since the group was a church, they felt they couldn’t operate a business.
Hall says the Y Service Club of Ottawa was up to the task.
Although the sports balls are imported from Pakistan, proceeds from the sale of sports balls in Canada go towards projects in Sierra Leone, one of the poorest countries on Earth.
Fair Trade also brings benefits to the workers in Pakistan who produce the balls. Hall says there is a 20 per cent premium from the sale of each ball that goes back to the workers and their community.
“That premium is used by the company and the workers, in consultation with each other,” Hall says. “The more we can sell Fair Trade, more of the premium will then be invested in the community for community services. It doesn’t just benefit the workers or the people who stitch but the whole community that these families live in.”
Along with promoting Fair Trade products, Hall says the sports balls also helps in the fight against child labour.
“In terms of sports balls, the big problem is that most of the stitching … has to be stitched together by hand and this is usually done in people’s homes,” Hall explains.
Typically, someone will come around to small villages asking families looking to earn some money if they’d be interested in stitching, for example, 1,000 soccer balls in a month.
“In order to complete the job, parents have to work and all the kids have to work. They’re not able to go to school, just trying to scratch out a living and, of course, they don’t get paid very much,” Hall says.
“The balls are then delivered to the factory who can then legitimately say, ‘we do not hire children.’ You see a lot of balls that say, ‘No child labour.’ That may well be in the factory but what they are probably hiding, in most cases, is the fact that there are kids who are doing the stitching in their homes.”
Although most people aren’t aware of the Fair Trade concept, Hall says the idea is becoming more popular in Canada.
“We’re finding a growing consciousness about issues like child labour and sweatshop labour and fair wages. It’s really starting to grow quite substantially in Canada,” Hall says, adding most people have no idea the balls they buy are stitched by children.
In 2000, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), reached a deal with companies to move away from the practice of using children to produce their soccer balls.
Soccer balls are the biggest seller, but Hall has started importing other Fair Trade sports balls such as North American footballs, volleyballs, basketballs and rugby balls.
“We’re looking for a source for baseballs and softballs but we haven’t found one yet. They come from the Caribbean so we have to find a company down there that would agree to become a Fair Trade company,” Hall says.
Fair Trade balls are also animal-friendly and are produced with synthetic materials. In addition, synthetic balls boast a decreased risk of injury as opposed to the heavier, leather-bound balls.
Hall also says the Y in Ottawa has just opened a boutique where Fair Trade, coffee, tea, chocolate and crafts are sold.
“We’re providing a retail outlet for vendors in the Ottawa area and we’re working on getting other YMCAs to do the same,” he says.
For the time being, Hall says the Y Service Club is able to sell the balls for slightly less than they would sell for at a retail store.
“Because we’re all volunteers, we can keep the price fairly reasonable,” he says. “The day may come, and it may be sooner rather than later, that we won’t be able to run it with volunteers and we’ll have to hire somebody. Then, of course, the price would go up a bit.”
For more information, visit www.transfair.ca.
