About Us

 Our Name – Just Us!

When we had to think of a name for our business.  “Just Us!” was the first idea that came up. It seemed to fit. It was a play on the word “justice” which we liked. It also captured the notion that we were just a small group of people who were going to try, against all odds, to make a difference in the way coffee and other products were produced and traded.

From Humble Beginnnings	Our Newly Renovated location in Grand Pré

”Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” - Margaret Mead

Our Story – Getting Started

The story of how Just Us! got started is rather wild and wonderful. Unable to get any information on Fair Trade in Canada, Jeff jumped on a plane to Mexico in December, 1995. He ended up in Chiapas which was in the middle of a civil war which was being fought over who should profit from coffee production.

Traditionally, indigenous communities in Latin America were given the “worst” lands, high in the mountains. As fate would have it, these ended up being the best places to grow good organic coffee. They had begun in the 1970’s to form cooperatives with the help of church development workers and were increasingly able to process and export their own coffee without depending on the agents for the big coffee companies (called “coyotes”) who for generations had taken advantage of them. Now they were fighting it out. The government and the U.S. sided with the “coyotes” while BIG COFFEE tried to eliminate the small coffee farmers, whom they labelled as 'rebels' and  even 'communists', and who were trying desperately to improve their lives.

Jeff managed to get through the military road blocks and past all the huge trees cut down by the Zapatista rebels to block the movement of the army. He travelled far up into the mountains to the coffee growing areas. There, he was able to see first hand the pride that the coffee farmers took in growing their coffee organically and the empowerment and dignity they derived from being members of a co-op. They said Fair Trade was the first thing that had given them real hope for a better future.

Jeff came home with “good news” and “bad news”. The good news was he had found a great Fair Trade co-op that would be thrilled to sell their coffee to Canada but the “bad news” was that he and Debbie would have to put their house up as security to finance a minimum shipment of 10 tons of coffee without having a single customer.

They didn’t really lose much sleep over the decision. They had such a strong belief in the combination of high quality coffee and Fair Trade – that they plunged ahead and Just Us! has never looked back.