Member Profiles

Worker Co-ops are actively involved in the economic and socio-economic fabric of their communities. This page gives a sampling of worker co-ops.

Chorus Frog Organic Gardens Cooperative Takes a Collaborative Approach to Its Work

By Kenzie Love Chorus Frog Organic Gardens Cooperative formed in October 2024, the result of a conversion initiated by the farm’s founder, Daria Zovi. A native of Italy, Zovi was familiar with the worker co-op model from her country of origin, and decided that being a sole proprietor no longer appealed to her.  “We already … Chorus Frog Organic Gardens Cooperative Takes a Collaborative Approach to Its Work


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Conflict Engagement Worker Co-op Lives Its Values through the Model

By Kenzie Love In 2020, a group of facilitators and mediators, located in Vancouver, Toronto and Nova Scotia but sharing common interests and methodologies in their work, began meeting online weekly amidst the pandemic. Organizational clients were coming to them, at a loss for how to deal with the relationship fallout from internal conflicts around … Conflict Engagement Worker Co-op Lives Its Values through the Model


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African Canadian Agricultural Producers Cooperative Helps Diaspora Plant New Roots

By Kenzie Love When he settled in BC’s Lower Mainland as an immigrant from Nigeria, John Atoyebi knew he wanted to get back into farming. A farmer in his country of origin, as well as a lawyer, Atoyebi had the experience and the desire to resume his trade, but he needed farmland, a relatively scarce … African Canadian Agricultural Producers Cooperative Helps Diaspora Plant New Roots


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 The Aster Foundation Provides Valuable Support to New Brunswick’s Environmental Movement

By Kenzie Love Aster Group Environmental Services Co–op was formed in Sackville, New Brunswick in 2013 with a mandate to donate 10 percent of its profits to an environmental charity. In the absence of an existing charity suited to this purpose, however, the Aster Foundation was created in 2017, charged with making annual grants to …  The Aster Foundation Provides Valuable Support to New Brunswick’s Environmental Movement


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Co-op Sets Conventional Thinking Ablaze

By Kenzie Love Ablaze Services began in 2019 in New Westminster, BC, the brainchild of two women who’d initially come together through the Feminist Campaign School, an organization designed to support candidates for municipal office. The founders subsequently began to take on more project-based work, and with the addition of a third member to their … Co-op Sets Conventional Thinking Ablaze


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Lichen Celebrates Community-Led Design

By Kenzie Love Lichen Community Systems was founded in 2024 by four people dedicated to growing the practice of community-led design. Building on the principle of “nothing about us without us”, community-led design goes beyond consultation and co-creation.  It supports technologies and systems that are designed by, accessible to, and ownable by communities. The Co-op’s … Lichen Celebrates Community-Led Design


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Worker Co-op Seizes Opportunities

By Kenzie Love Seize the Means of Production Video Co-op is a unionized video production worker co-op based in Vancouver, BC. Established in 2022, it was founded by five long-time collaborators who saw an opportunity to do art-based, nonprofit work. “We wanted to start a business, but were also thinking about the co-op model as … Worker Co-op Seizes Opportunities


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