Co-op Perspective

After a flurry of activity in the weeks preceding Christmas, BCCA launched the Co-operative Career Intern Program with placements of seven young interns. This is a new program that is offered exclusively to BCCA members and in this, our first year, the program is off to a strong start. A two-day orientation session was held on Jan. 28^th and 29^th for all our new interns to prepare them for their placements within their host organizations and topics included Goal Setting, Types of Co-op Models, The Economics of Co-ops, and The History and Philosophy of Co-ops.

Tax Treatment of Co-ops Challenged at the European Commission - Co-op Identity Threatened

From March 6^th-9^th, 2010 past participants, staff, sponsors and friends of the YES program will be gathering at the Loon Lake Education Centre in Maple Ridge to celebrate the long history of The YES (formerly Camp Rainbow).  The camp has operated for over 35 years in BC, and has touched the lives of thousands of the province's outstanding youth.  With a rich and varied program drawing on the best of The YES experience, we are inviting anyone with a connection to the program to join us for the whole weekend, or for a shorter visit.

Café Ético has announced that an urgent situation has been unfolding in Guatemala, where members of the Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA) have been receiving death threats and have forced the organization's leaders and their families to go into hiding. The CCDA is the peasant and indigenous people's labour organization that has been a key supplier of organically grown coffee for Café Ético in Vancouver.

When I last wrote about the Co-op Development Initiative, I mentioned our great pleasure at the Initiative's four-year renewal by the federal government. This $19.1 million contribution to the Canadian co-op sector is invaluable - it allows, for example, BCCA's Advisory Service program for emerging co-ops to continue; and, through the Innovative Co-operative Program (ICP) component of the CDI, it provides substantial, multi-year grants to more established co-ops.

Many people who care about co-ops will have helped BCCA and the other co-operative associations lobby the federal government to renew the Co-operative Development Initiative (CDI), the nation-wide program funded through the Co-operatives Secretariat. We were very pleased when the minister, Jean-Pierre Blackburn, announced in May of this year that the program would be extended through 31 March of 2013.

Across Canada, co-ops and credit unions celebrated Co-op Week from October 11-17. BC was no exception and from Victoria to Vancouver and to communities in the interior co-ops took the lead in highlighting the contributions that co-ops make to their local communities, day in and day out. In Vancouver, BCCA once again sponsored the annual Co-op Week luncheon, which featured a keynote address from Mike Lewis of the Canadian Centre for Community Renewal. The subject of the talk was Reweaving Local Economies: Solutions for Sustainability.

Victoria Car Share Co-op

Investors Aid Co-operative of Canada

Shuswap Community Resources Co-operative

The Co-operative Career Internship Program is a new BCCA initiative designed to give eight youth interns experience in the co-op sector in BC. BCCA will help co-ops select, train and support interns for 21-week placements in the province. Eight youth in the province will have the opportunity to become involved in the co-op and credit union sector.  BCCA will provide them with an education in the history of the co-op movement and in the structure of co-operative enterprise.

YES Camp alumni Susie Welch gets honoured as Olympic Torchbearer, "Her nominees recognized Welch’s passion for school, her commitment to her community and her spirit of citizenship." To read the full article from Penticton Western News, click here.

CSR Idol Discovers Humour, Optimistic Spirit amidst Poverty in the Philippines

The progressing culture of a city defines and separates it from other urban areas. Unfortunately, London’s arts scene can sometimes feel like a younger sibling in Ontario, often overlooked by larger cities and only seldom chiming in with a unique voice.

However, a group of young artists and Western students calling themselves the Open House Arts Collective aim to add a little more maturity and confidence to London’s cultural movements.

A big welcome to Chelsea Lake, the new Director of Youth Programs! 

Chelsea began her involvement with The YES, formerly Camp Rainbow, as a participant in the   program in 1999. Since then Chelsea has been involved as a staff member, workshop facilitator and administrative assistant for the program. 

The Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada endorsed today's call by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities for new infrastructure spending.

 

Co-operatives, credit unions and their members across the country are celebrating the 100th anniversary this year of what has now become one of Canada’s largest economic and social movements.

The purpose of funeral co-ops is to provide funerals at cost and in a compassionate way. On the death of a loved one this is not the time to be making financial decisions about funeral services. People join funeral co-ops now in anticipation of their own deaths at some point in the future as well as that the deaths of those they love. However there is another element and that is that members want to see the funeral co-op alternative available in their communities. They join in solidarity with their fellow citizens.

Canada’s national co-op associations are asking co-ops and their members across the country to join the campaign to renew the Co-operative Development Initiative (CDI), a federal program that helps promote and develop new and emerging co-ops.

BCCA is pleased to announce a new report by John Restakis, Enabling Policy for Health and Social Co-ops. The report examines obstacles and opportunities for the formation of social co-ops with respect to health care and access to training and the labour market by individuals on social assistance.

La Siembra Wins Worldwide Award for Democracy in the Workplace

Ottawa-Gatineau’s La Siembra Co-operative is thrilled to announce that it is one of four Canadian companies to win WorldBlu’s “Worldwide Award for the Most Democratic Workplaces”.

Investors-Aid Co-operative of Canada: a first for Canadian consumers

With the world’s highest investment costs, advisory conflicts of interest, low average returns, and now a brutal bear market, the old way just doesn’t cut it any more. Investors-Aid is the first Co-operative to bring investors together. We help cut costs by up to 90%, get value from advisors, reduce capital loss, access consumer-friendly products and strategies, and to negotiate discounts from industry firms.

A visit by a delegation from the Federation of Funeral Cooperatives (two elected members (Réjean Laflamme and Steve Bourassa) and two employees(Alain Leclerc and Annie Normandin)) to England to view the facilities and meet with the directors of some English funeral cooperatives has proven to be a valuable learning experience.

Mountain Equipment Co-op(TM), Canada's largest retail co-operative with over 2.9 million members, today disclosed the names of factories that make clothing and gear under the outdoor retailer's MEC-brand label. With the move, MEC becomes the first Canadian company to disclose its factory base.

BCCA was proud to host its annual co-op week luncheon event at the beautiful VanDusen Botanical Garden. This year close to 80 individuals attended representing a broad spectrum of cooperatives from around the province. Many of the attendees were also alumnae of the BCCA's Bologna Summer Program; offered in the co-operative rich region of Emilio Romanga, Italy the Bologna Summer Program gathers an international faculty to offer a unique blend of theoretic and practical co-op learning experiences.

Through support from the Co-operative Development Initiative (CDI), a federally funded program to promote the development of new co-operatives across Canada, the BCCA has initiated a co-op development advisory service pilot project. In conjunction with highly experienced and skilled co-op development professionals in B.C., the BCCA provides expert assistance to groups who want to start new co-ops or who need help managing existing ones.

The areas of support and advice offered to groups typically fall within one or more of the following themes:

When The Phone Co-op entered the Enterprising Solutions Awards two years ago it watched someone else walk off with the top prize. However, just being shortlisted spurred it on to enter again and this time it was successful.

Vivian Woodell, the chief executive and founder of the Chipping Norton-based operation, had a background in the cooperative movement rather than telecommunications when he decided to set up the business about ten years ago to supply telecoms and internet services.

With 4 million Canadians in need of housing and 40,000 sleeping in shelters every night, Canada's affordable housing shortage is not a problem that is too big to fix; it's a problem that is too big not to fix, the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada said today.

A joint venture by five First Nations in partnership with Conexus Credit Union and other financial institutions will help urban band members access affordable housing and become homeowners.

BURNABY, B.C. - Liberal Leader Stephane Dion urged Canadians to take a long-term view that Canada must reduce energy consumption as he campaigned for his carbon tax Friday against a backdrop of soaring gas prices and an onslaught of Conservative attacks on the Green Shift, the centrepiece of his election platform.

Fire tore through the Ottawa office building that houses several national co-op organizations, incuding the Canadian Co-operative Association (CCA) and the Conseil Canadien de la Coopération (CCC), in the early hours of September 15.

No one was injured in the blaze that caused an estimated four million dollars in damage to the building. However, first indications from the Fire Department suggest arson as the cause.

The offices will remain closed until cleared by the authorities.

You should have a better eating experience when you choose B.C. tree fruits at the market, now that there’s only one co-operative packing and shipping fruit.

Growers elected the first board of directors for the new Okanagan Tree Fruit Co-operative Thursday in Penticton, after voting earlier this year in favour of amalgamation of the four packinghouses in the valley.

Participants for two online surveys about the social economy are being sought by their organizers.

The first survey is connected to a BALTA mapping project of the social economy in BC and Alberta. An overview of the early results can be found here, and those wanting to take part in the survey should follow this link.

The second survey requires participants who are practitioners in the co-op, CED, and non-profit sectors, and relates to a Master of Arts program under development at the University of Victoria. Input is being sought from those already in the field to help shape the design and objectives of the future program. To complete this survey, please visit this link.

BEAUSEJOUR -- A group of Beausejour-area grain producers is planning to build a biodiesel plant that uses canola oil, to take control of its fuel needs from big oil producers and help reduce farming's carbon imprint on the environment. "We have no security against market fluctuations because we depend on large corporations for diesel fuel. The cost of fuel goes up quickly but comes down slowly. In the future there may not even be a reliable source of diesel fuel," says Hans Muster, who farms near Beausejour.

As foreclosure rates rise to new heights, Mary Rhodes is counting her blessings.

The Rankin County School District bus driver recently moved with her 17-year-old son into a new home in Morton.

"The Lord led me to this," she said about the three-bedroom, two-bath house she closed on in June. "It was move-in ready. All I had to do was paint." 

The Cowichan Lake Community Forest Cooperative is interested in acquiring the proposed business park at the old Youbou millsite, as well as managing the proposed marina and boat ramp.

Pending rezoning approval, a spokesman for the owners of the property, Thomas Kreilein, said he’s interested in the idea.

Lorne Scheffer, chairman of the Forest Co-op, wrote to Kreilein saying he believes it’s an excellent opportunity for the Forest Co-op. In a telephone interview, Scheffer said this would come under the Forest Co-op’s mandate to create jobs.

The Venables Valley Producers Co-op and the Seton Lake Indian Band were recipients of federal grants that were announced in Ashcroft last week.

The Producers Co-op received $25,200 to conduct a feasibility study for a facility to compost pine-beetle killed trees, while the Seton Lake Indian Band received $99,000 to develop an economic plan and two feasibility studies to strengthen the local economy, thanks to an investment by the Government of Canada, through Western Economic Diversification Canada.

The fair trade certified coffee market is not only fairer to farmers than the conventional coffee market, it is a uniquely remarkable way to stimulate economic growth in some of the poorest communities on the Earth.

My perspective is in direct contrast to an opinion column by Gene Callahan that appeared on this page Aug. 14.