This is the story of Just Us! Coffee Roasters Co-op, Canada's first fair trade coffee roaster. This book describes its successes and its failures and details how a small group of people - "just us" - worked against adversity and defied many of the norms associated with building a business. In this fascinating tale, general readers, business owners and community activists will find hope and the courage to forge new paths, build new organizations and shape a new society. This story is also about the fair trade movement, providing a snapshot of the struggle of the small coffee producers in the South to control their own production, find a fair market for their coffee and get a fair hearing for their concerns. Just Us! Coffee Roasters Co-op is an experiment in a radical business model - one rooted in cooperation, social justice and meaningful social change.
