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Chief Clarence Louie of the Osoyoos Indian Band was named the recipient of the Consumer Leadership Award.
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The Advancing Marketplace Trust Award was awarded to Ethical Bean Coffee.
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VANCOUVER, British Columbia - October 25, 2012 - On the year celebrating its international centennial, the Better Business Bureau serving Mainland B.C. (BBB) is pleased to announce the recipients of the 5th annual Torch Awards, which turns a spotlight to ethics in the marketplace.
"Business sustainability is built on relationships and the Torch Awards recipients this year really show how much their customers and stakeholders value their companies," says Danielle Primrose, BBB President and CEO. "While there is no one way to reach success, we are pleased to reward companies that look at success not just as a measure of profitability, but also when they consider ethical business practices and community-minded thinking."
The recipients were selected by an independent committee and announced at a ceremony in Vancouver on October 25 at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia. The event was emceed by CKNW's Ian Power, and featured a keynote address by Peter Legge, Chairman and CEO, from Canada Wide Media Limited.
The awards for Marketplace Excellence recognizes a business committed to exceptional business standards that benefit all stakeholders, including consumers, employees, suppliers, shareholders and their surrounding community. This year's recipient for the Marketplace Excellence Award - Large Category is Rogers Group Financial, of Vancouver, and the recipient for the Marketplace Excellence Award - Small Category is China Star Holiday (Canada) Ltd., based in Richmond.
The Green Award recipient is Mills Basics, a company based in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside, a stationary company that mixes sustainability with social purpose, helping to employ some of the underemployed in one of Canada's poorest postal codes.
The Advancing Marketplace Trust Award was awarded to Ethical Bean Coffee. This award recognizes positive contributions towards social impacts and offering new choices for consumers. The Vancouver-based company seeks out only Fairtrade Certified and Organic coffee showing global awareness that helps to cultivate social responsible options for coffee drinkers across Canada.
Chief Clarence Louie of the Osoyoos Indian Band was named the recipient of the Consumer Leadership Award, which is given to an individual who has significantly advanced marketplace trust through consumer advocacy, protection or education. Chief Louie was selected based on his life-long commitment to improve his people's standard of living through the businesses on his Osoyoos reserve. World-renown Nk'Mip Cellars (the first Aboriginal owned winery in North America), golf course, construction company and numerous retail stores have brought great prosperity to Chief Louie's people over the past quarter-century.
The Torch Award is a symbol of a company's commitment to honesty and integrity toward customers, employees, shareholders and community, and is the highest achievement the BBB awards to businesses.
