By Lauriane Lognay

As consumers and designers alike continue to prioritize the ethical mining of metals and gemstones, I have encountered more and more individuals interested in adding stones with Canadian origin to their collections. This is largely because these beautiful gems have virtually no risk of being a source of conflict, nor a source of finance for terrorism. While mined stones are often accompanied with papers tracking their origin, these reports are not always a guarantee that a particular stone was not, say, mined by a child, or harvested through another source of unethical means.

Along with the product itself, today’s retailers want to sell a gemstone’s story, including its true origin and the methods of how it was mined—but is it possible to find affordable gemstones that were mined in Canada by fairly compensated adults? The answer is yes!

It seems like every country in the world has its own array of gemstones, each with their own specific quality (Kashmir sapphire from Kashmir), specific colour (Cobalt spinel in Vietnam), specific stone (Tanzanite in Tanzania), or specific inclusion (three-phase inclusion in emeralds from Russia). Likewise, Canada has its own unique offerings that go far beyond diamonds.