Wednesday 4 January 2017

What about the rest of Canada?

As someone who habitually does not leave one extreme corner of Canada, I remain unaware of thrift shops in other provinces.  By chance, a possible RV trip across part of the country may change that.  I have been doing some research and here's a breakdown.

In western Canada, the Mennonite Central Committee is strong, with the largest presence - naturally - in Manitoba.  WorldServe also has a couple of shops in Calgary and one in Saskatoon. Bibles for Missions also has a large presence throughout anglo Canada, as does the Salvation Army.  The Salvation Army does have a small presence in Québec limited to Montréal.

Being a primarily Catholic country (nearly 40% of the country, down from ~50% 30+ years ago), there are Catholic charities that operate thrift shops,  Almost all are Society of St. Vincent de Paul which is particularly strong in Québec, Ontario, and of course has a small presence around Victoria and Vancouver.  In addition, Emmaus - an organisation we became aware of on an extended trip to rural France, also has a presence in Québec.

I am sure there are lots of Habitats for Humanity ReStores (which only occurred to me as an organisation that spans provincial boundaries) too. United and Anglican churches, health care auxiliaries, women's shelters, and other charities must be present too but they're likely to be local and decentralised.

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