ACS Justice Broadens Students Awareness
ACS Justice Broadens Students Awareness
Assumption College School is working to raise student awareness about global injustices. The school’s Justice Committee meets regularly to inform its members of current issues and to generate subsequent plans to educate the rest of the student body. ACS Justice was founded in 2005 by Mr. John Kuilboer and Mrs. Mary-Teresa Coene, as a social group where students could discuss current issues and work towards eliminating them. With a strong group of teachers at its core, the group has decided this year to focus on fair trade coffee and chocolate, studying the effects of corporate capitalization on third world citizens. Future prospective campaigns include Make Poverty History, and Write for Rights. The group has had similar themes in previous years. Last year they confronted the unfair trade of t-shirts, raising both staff and student awareness of the trading issues surrounding clothing. This had particular significance as the school was undergoing a contract renewal with the uniform supplier.
The students have been anxious to commence and have already begun making posters and promoting their most recent educational initiative—the screening of Black Gold. “This documentary will hopefully inspire the students to become the change that they want to see in the world,” says Mr. Sean Roche, one of the teachers leading the committee. With a successful viewing, the students have come to realize the magnitude of the issues surrounding unfair trade, and the benefits of a fair trading system. Haley McConkey, an ACS Justice member explains, “Seeing the movie has made me reconsider what I am consuming and the impact that my consumption has on the rest of the world.” This is exactly what Roche was hoping for. “Essentially I want the students to realize that cheaper isn’t always better, and that the price we pay can come at a greater cost—the livelihood of the producer. The reality is that many third world coffee farmers are not making nearly enough to support their families. For example, the cost of one cup of coffee in Canada and the United States is roughly equivalent to the cost of one kilogram of coffee beans in the third world. Thus many families cannot afford to send their children to school, while many communities cannot afford to construct schools in their area. These farmers strive to make an honest living, but often resort to producing “chat”, an African narcotic. Producing this drug provides them with more money than growing coffee beans. There is a vast market, as it is widely used and not regulated in the countries of East Africa.
With this new insight of the global inequity, ACS Justice Committee plans to approach the issue by selling fair trade coffee and chocolate and educating the rest of the student body. The ambition of the group is running strong as they also plan to act locally by volunteering at the Salvation Army, helping out the less fortunate this holiday season.
