RRC working toward being a sustainable institution.

By Owen Stapleton

Red River College’s weeklong Fairtrade Campus events have wrapped up at the Notre Dame Campus.

The front loader that serves as the pumkin drop off point sits outside of the student services center at Red River College’s Notre Dame Campus on Nov 1st 2019. /OWEN STAPLETON

The week-long event that was put on by the Red River College Sustainability department ran from Oct 28 to Nov 1 Fairtrade Campus Week had the goal of educating staff and students on the benefits of Fairtrade products.

Fairtrade Canada is a company that supports small farmers and ensures their product meets a set of economic and environmental standards.

Although Fairtrade Canada focuses on small scale farmers and plantations for some products, they will also certify larger farms and plantations to make sure employees have basic rights and liveable wages.

Red River College Business Administration Student Tanner Hamin-Marsh says although he does not check to see if products are Fairtrade certified he is glad that Red River supports Fairtrade businesses.

Posters promoting Fairtrade Canada hang up inside of Red River Colleges Notre Dame Campus November 1st 2019. /OWEN STAPLETON

“I think it’s very important to support businesses that provide basic rights to their workers.” Hamin-Marsh said.

Through events such as the Fairtrade film screening and Fairtrade trick or treat a spotlight was put on some of the Fairtrade brands supported by the college such as Ten Thousand Villages furniture and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.

Red River College Human Resources student Nadia Maury feels it is important for the college to support Fairtrade business. 

“I think it’s pretty important given the fact that a large portion of international students at the school taking RRC programs strive to become entrepreneurs after graduation.” Maury said. 

 “If the school supported Fairtrade businesses (more) it would promote international business and give students hope to succeed in international trading as entrepreneurs” Maury said.

One of the events hosted was compost your pumpkin on November 1.

Jack-o’-Lanterns sit in the front loaders bucket after being dropped off during the Compost Your Pumkin event. on Nov 1st 2019. /OWEN STAPLETON

This event was an opportunity for staff and students to bring in their jack-o’-lanterns from Halloween and have the college compost them instead of leaving them to rot on a front porch or dump. The event consisted of a front loader parked outside the bus loop at the Notre Dame campus that allowed for people to put their jack-o’-lanterns in its scoop. If your jack-o’-lanterns were still in good shape on the 1st there was another opportunity to compost them on the 4th.

On Facebook, the College said that the composted jack-o’-lanterns would contribute to next year’s gardens and sustainability at the College.