About
It started on one main street
Canadian Locals grew out of Elora, Ontario, a town that runs on the shops and makers who own it. What worked there works everywhere.
The idea was small. Help the shops, trades, and family businesses of one Ontario town get found and get chosen. It worked. The problem, it turned out, was not local. The same squeeze from national chains and global marketplaces is felt in every province.
So the work went national. Canadian Locals now stands for locally owned business across the country. It gives them a directory that sends real customers, a mark of trust worth showing, and a voice that reaches government.
It is not a marketplace. We take no cut of a sale, and we do not auction visibility to the highest bidder. The job is plainer than that. Make local easier to find, easier to trust, and harder to overlook.
What we mean by local
A member is owned in Canada, and is not a franchise of a national or global chain. The line is plain on purpose. It is what gives the Verified Canadian Local mark its weight.