Buy Canadian

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/BuyCanadian/comments/1javtes/my_mom_owns_a_canadianmade_indoafrican_sauce/

I was planning on waiting longer than almost a week since my initial post for an update but after this CBC article came out about how r/BuyCanadian saved my mom’s business I couldn’t help myself.

During the interview, she asked maybe 4-5 times if the reporter could please not forget to thank this subreddit by name. She had no idea what a subreddit or even Reddit was before this started but you guys when I tell you she will not stop talking about you to people. It’s very sweet.

There are not enough words to convey how thankful I am to all of you for supporting my mom, like this. With the tariffs she didn’t know how Aki’s was going to survive, even after being in business for 38 years. My mom moved to Canada at 16 alone and built all of this from almost nothing and you have saved that.

Please do not let anyone ever tell you that buying Canadian does not have an impact. Your decision to buy Canadian is changing the lives of small business owners across the country and we will all be forever thankful.

We have been working around the clock to get orders out, replying to emails, comments, and other messages. My mom has hand written a personal thank you note for EVERY single order we have received. There have been lots of happy tears since this past weekend.

To answer some big questions I’ve received:

Our ingredient list did not populate for some reason when making the new website. We’re actively working to fix this. Until then, here is a Google Drive link with the info. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OZbQdhpP3AKR_JXS6NhyMF1obc-Xb1iH/view?usp=sharing

How you can continue to support us: Please talk to your local store managers if they do not carry our products and ask them to carry Aki’s. Consumer requests carry a lot of weight. You can also order directly from us on our website www.akisfinefoods.com

Please follow us on our brand new Instagram @akisfinefoods https://www.instagram.com/akisfinefoods/ we will be posting lots of fun recipes and updates on when we can ship to our US friends.

Don’t know what to get? Send me a DM and I’ll help curate an adventure for you based off of your preferred spice levels. We have something for everyone!

Lastly, a huge shoutout to my husband for letting me repost this on his account after I got my main account banned for too many replies the first time I posted the original.

TLDR: You guys have saved my mom’s business in what feels like overnight. There have been lots of happy tears from my mom and we are just so thankful for your support. Please follow us on Instagram and ask your local store managers to carry our products! Keep buying Canadian, you have the power to change lives.

Does anybody know of any dishwasher detergent made in Canada or anywhere but the US that can be bought in the province of Quebec?

YSK that the Finish detergent sold in QC is most likely made in the US

I found in the shelves a box of the Finish brand but it didnt say where it was made, it just said "imported by Reckitt".

Looking for information about Reckitt I found that is an European brand BUT according to this page:

https://homegeargeek.com/where-is-finish-dishwasher-detergent-made/

"Another important manufacturing hub for Finish dishwasher detergent is in the United States. With a growing market in North America, the brand established a production facility in Chesapeake, Virginia. This U.S. manufacturing plant caters not only to domestic demand but also exports its products to other countries across the Americas."

At the end I didnt find a Canadian detergent in powder, but I found one in tablets from a brand named "TruEarth" and another one from the "Unscented Company". That will have to do until I can find one in powder.

I got myself a new Canadian made blood pressure monitor from bios. But I need some AAA batteries for it. Any suggestions?

"With so much interest in buying small Canadian companies, I figured I would share her products as an alternative. Your support would change her life. All products have a maple leaf!"

The response was immediate and enormous, she says, with order requests through her website increasing by almost 4,000 per cent, according to Williams.

Canada's automotive industry is centered in the heart of North America's largest vehicle producing region: the Great Lakes automotive manufacturing cluster. Canada is one of the world's top 12 producers of light vehicles. Five global OEMs assemble more than 1.4 million vehicles at their Canadian plants each year: Stellantis, Ford, GM, Honda and Toyota. Their plants are supplied by a vibrant ecosystem of nearly 700 parts suppliers, including homegrown Tier 1 companies like Magna, Linamar and Martinrea. Canada is home to one of only five machine-tool-die-and-mould (MTDM) making clusters in the world. It's been building vehicles for over a century, and has a proud legacy of high quality auto manufacturing. The sector plays a key role in Canada's economy. With a $12.5 billion contribution to GDP in 2020, it is one of Canada's largest manufacturing sectors. The industry directly employs more than 117,200 people, with an additional 371,400 people in aftermarket services and dealership networks in 2020.

Many of CO-OP's house brand products including their toilet paper and paper towels are Made in Canada.

Western Family paper products seem to be as well, although I prefer co-op gold for this application.

Not sure if any other house brands are as well? FRANK stuff at Canadiantire is good quality but I don't have any to check the place of manufacture.

I went looking for a new pasta sauce after Classico "improved" their formula and found this Montreal brand at SaveOn in BC.

For context, I'm going to need to buy cereal at some point (even though I prefer oats), but this applies to anything, really.

So many of these "buy Canadian" websites will list companies like Post and Kellogg's, because they have manufacturing here.

But there are also Canadian-owned companies. Some "have manufacturing in Canada or the US", and there's no guarantee that the ingredients used are even from Canada.

So... when there are no Canadian companies who make products in Canada, which alternative gives the most impact (i.e. keeps more money within Canada)?

Is it better to buy products that are made in Canada, even if the company is American owned.

Or should priority be on Canadian companies, regardless of where products are made?*

*I'm totally fine supporting products made outside of the country, if I have to. But American made is at the bottom of my list.

For my wife and I, I could likely make our own mix of muesli cereal from Canadian and NotAmerican ingredients. But our grandkids are used to regular cereal brands, so we need to accommodate.

What have you guys been doing?

I ran across this post on the CBC that names a few apps to help people find Canadian products: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/buying-canadian-shopping-apps-barcode-scanners-1.7463039

• Shop Canadian
• Buy Beaver
• O SCANada
• Maple Scan

I'm curious if anyone has tried any of these and how useful (or not!) you've found them.

I haven't seen this one mentioned recently, but the brand was recommended to me in years prior. How Canadian are they? (ingredients, manufacturing, packaging etc.)

I found this about ownership: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/biosteel-energy-athletes-hockey-crosby-dan-company-1.7370856

This Windsor entrepreneur bought the bankrupt BioSteel brand last year

I own another brand called Canadian Protein and this is right in our wheelhouse, and I've been owning and operating that brand for years, and this brand is essentially no different.

As for Biosteel

[...] it's a big brand and has a big footprint still, especially in Canada. We're expanding into the states. It was large in the states, but it wasn't doing very well. We're bringing it back to the states through proper channels where it needs to be profitable in, and everything is going to be made in-house in Windsor, and ship right through the border in Detroit.

I also found this other Bcorp while looking for sources, but I'm not familiar with them: https://simplyprotein.ca/

In 1995, the business was bought by American burger chain Wendy's, and in 2014 became part of Restaurant Brands International.

This is where the idea of Tim's being Brazilian comes from. Restaurant Brands International's largest shareholder was the Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital.

In 2014, at the time of the takeover, 3G held 47 per cent of the voting power in Restaurant Brands International, but that has slowly decreased over time to 26 per cent as of Dec. 31, 2024.

Today, Canadian banks such as Toronto Dominion, Bank of Montreal, National Bank and Royal Bank, as well as Canadian institutional investors such as the CPP Investment Board, cumulatively hold a stake comparable to 3G, according to Michael Oliveira, the director of communications for Tim Hortons.

I ordered replacement brush heads for my electric toothbrush and they've been solid, as far as I can tell until I go to the dentist.

Their manual brushes with replaceable heads also look quite decent though I haven't tried them.

Also they're pretty cheap and have free shipping across Canada for all orders! My order took maybe 2 weeks? I didn't keep track, tbh. But they're in Quebec and I'm in BC, so it taking a while is acceptable.

I have no affiliation with the brand, learned from them from a comment on reddit and figured I should post about them here.