Co-ops in the News

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.  Please check it out on t

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.

Co-operatives have always been able to rely on their fellow co-operators for help in times of crisis. This last few weeks however, has given rise to a number of calls for solidarity from the co-op community in response to crises that range from the humanitarian disaster in Haiti, to threats of violence and intimidation aimed at the members of a coffee growers co-op in Guatemala.