Megan Miller Continued from page 8

from the time he was a baby up to the last

picture that was taken of him. These presentations are supplemented

with general information about impaired driving and Statistics and

laws from around the world.

Although Miller’s time is restricted by school work, she refuses to let anyone down.

“T’ve made a conscious decision that if] am ever invited to do an impaired driving presentation, I’ll do everything [I can to be there],” says Miller who has not turned one down yet and certainly does not plan to. “I think that it is a real privilege to be able to do that [presentations].”

Such dedication to the community has allowed Miller to meet a great number of fellow volunteers, some old, some young, many of which share this same devotion to public service. It was one of these fellow volunteers, Jane Johnston, also a volunteer at the QEH, who nominated her for this recognition.

Miller’s involvement as a social activist will certainly not end as she graduates from UPEI. Miller, who has applied to Dalhousie Medical School, plans to continue her public service, telling her story, and helping the community surrounding her for as long as she can.

U of Guelph group barred from distributing fair trade coffee

By Bandana Sharma Source: The Ontarion

(University of Guel ph)

GUELPH, ON (CUP) - It seems the word “hospitable” doesn’t apply to Hospitality Services at the University of Guelph.

Last November, the campus food provider prohibited a group dedicated to economic justice from distributing fair trade coffee for free at a student-run coffee house.

Instead of using coffee donated by Tributaries, a Guelph business that deals exclusively with fair trade beans, the Oxfam club was forced to purchase coffee from Hospitality Services for an event on Buy Nothing Day.

was to make people aware of their over- consumption and encourage people not to buy anything,” said Sheila Varadan on behalf of the Oxfam Club.

Fair trade beans refers to coffee that is grown in an environmentally friendly manner and purchased directly from farmers.

It remains unclear why Hospitality Services could not support Oxfam’s promotion of fair trade coffee.

“They were just following a policy [that states] that you re not allowed to bring foreign food on campus,” said Varadan.

But according to Hospitality Services those regulations do not exist. “There is no such policy,” said Dave Boeckner, director of Hospitality Services. “As long as

they booked the coffee house as an event with Pages, a student club should be able to sell or give out their own products.”

Despite not being able to follow through with their plan for Buy Nothing Day, Oxfam is not discouraged and plans to continue raising awareness on fair trade coffee in the coming months.

“(Hospitality Services] were fair and up front. We can’t discredit them in any way,” said Varadan. “Our primary goal this semester is to get hospitality services to start offering fair trade coffee to

. students.”

Kirsten Middleton, a former University of Guelph student and manager of Tributaries, is in full support of the Oxfam campaign.

“‘T would encourage Hospitality Services switch to fair trade coffee everywhere on campus,” she said. “Not only is it better coffee for everyone to drink, but it will say that they are being fair [to growers].”

The Oxfam Club is new to the University. It was created this past September and is operating under Central Student Association accreditation. Its members, who are mostly International Development students, meet weekly.

The campus group has its origins in the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief that was created to improve poor living conditions after WWII.

A large part of its focus is spreading fair trade coffee and making people aware of development issues surrounding the coffee industry.

According to Middleton, fair trade coffee dealers sign long-term purchase agreements directly with farmers so that they have guaranteed income to rely on.

“There’s also a minimum price that we will always pay regardless of what the market does,” she said. “We will always beat the world price by 0.05 per cent, per pound. This helps provide farmers with the basics for human life, everything from fresh water to medicine.”

“We try to work as directly with the farmers as possible,

because it’s the middlemen in

commercial coffee that jack up the price and see most of the profit,” she continued. “Farmers actually get paid very little for their beans. Sometimes they’re paid less for the coffee than what it cost to grow. Most coffee farmers actually live in pretty atrocious conditions.”

Fair trade coffee is also grown traditionally in the shade under the canopy of rainforests. This minimizes the effects of its harvest on the environment, says Middleton.

“Coffee has the dubious reputation of being the most heavily sprayed crop on the market,” said Middleton. “Traditionally, its shade grown and doesn’t require chemicals of any sort. But to speed up the process coffee can be forced to grow in the sun.

“First you clear the rain

forest through slash and burn, then you plant coffee sprayed

with pesticides and fertilizers that the forest would have provided. Of course you get coffee faster, which appeals to commercial production like Nescafe, Nabob or Maxwell House, but its a much unhealthier coffee for

the farmers and consumers.”

CC