The CBSN is to here to help. To provide knowledge and tool kits to breweries. To empower employees and to help customers make smart choices. To help underrepresented populations find the right spaces to work, or simply exist in. Our aim is to create safe spaces, ask the right questions, share experiences and provide resources. We are building a community that wants (and expects) the brewing industry to put in the work and be better.
The Craft Beer Safety Network
In 2021 Brienne Allen (@Ratmagnet) started sharing stories, waking up the industry and creating a bit of a reckoning. From there Erin Broadfoot began attempting to have conversations about what this meant for the Canadian Beer Industry. Met with responses that largely revolved around the idea that Canada was ‘better’ or ‘didn’t have the same issues’ she set out to show Canada that we were just as problematic by sharing Canadian stories of harassment and discrimination in the beer and beverage industry. People began very quickly realizing that the problems within the Canadian Beer market were just as numerous and just as severe. Being able to talk to hundreds of individuals in the industry provided the insight Erin needed to understand what the industry required in order to help provide better supports to underrepresented populations.
Ren Navarro was also intimately linked to the story sharing process. Daily check-ins and hours spent fact checking and sharing her own experiences after working within the DEI sector in the industry for years provided much needed clarity and a fuller picture.
But posting stories alone doesn’t bring about change, and we knew that. We hoped to create purpose out of the stories. So that all of the incredibly brave and courageous individuals who stepped forward with stories were able to do so with purpose. When the stories started to slow down and there was time to think, Erin and Ren sat down and discussed what they thought the industry really needed. From there The Craft Beer Safety Network was established.
