Blog

An ongoing series examining issues in the worker co-op sector.

ROSCAs Are an Overlooked But Vital Part of the Co-operative Sector

By Kenzie Love Growing up in Canada as the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, Andria Barrett was familiar with the Jamaican concept of “partner”. What she only learned later in life was that while it has sometimes been overlooked in Western histories of the co-operative movement, partner is just one name for a Rotating Savings and ROSCAs Are an Overlooked But Vital Part of the Co-operative Sector


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Co-op Week 2023: Event Round-Up

Online and in-person events being hosted by regional Co-op Associations across the country. Co-operatives & Mutuals Canada https://canada.coop/en/co-op-week-2023/ Panel: How Can Co-ops Overcome Barriers to Taking Climate Action? Online | Wednesday, Oct. 18th | 1:00 pm ET Navigating Government Support (FR) Online | Tuesday, Oct. 17th | 1:00 pm ET Nova Scotia Co-operative Council NSCC’s Co-op Week 2023: Event Round-Up


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The Allium’s Closure Offers Lessons for Other Worker Co-ops

By Kenzie Love Worker co-ops have proven to be more resilient than conventional businesses. But like any business, some of them still inevitably close. Such was the case for Calgary’s The Allium Restaurant, which opened in 2019 and shut its doors last month. Despite the critical acclaim it garnered, the restaurant struggled with factors beyond The Allium’s Closure Offers Lessons for Other Worker Co-ops


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Quebec’s Worker Co-op Sector Offers Lessons for the Rest of Canada

By Kenzie Love   When discussing the ideal environment for worker co-ops, Spain’s Mondragon and the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy are often held up as models. But while its worker co-op sector isn’t as strong as in these areas, there’s another point of comparison closer to home: the province of Quebec. With over 200 worker Quebec’s Worker Co-op Sector Offers Lessons for the Rest of Canada


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Learning and Listening Will Help Canada’s Worker Co-op Sector Build Relationships With Indigenous Communities

By Kenzie Love As in many other BIPOC communities, Indigenous people in Canada have a long history of co-operativism. As Mark Intertas and James Thunder note in their paper Indigenizing the Co-operative Model: “While the co-operative is a relatively new construct in the context of European history, Indigenous peoples exhibited the characteristics and principles of Learning and Listening Will Help Canada’s Worker Co-op Sector Build Relationships With Indigenous Communities


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Government Support Is Critical to a Strong Worker Co-op Sector

By Kenzie Love Co-operatives around the world employ 280 million people, comprising 10 percent of the world’s employed population, making for a significant if still comparatively small portion of the global economy. But co-operatives are also unevenly distributed globally, with worker co-operatives, at least, comprising a relatively small share of the Canadian economy (with the Government Support Is Critical to a Strong Worker Co-op Sector


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