By Kenzie Love In 2012, three alumni from Vancouver Island University’s Green Building & Renewable Energy Program, inspired by the publicity surrounding the International Year of the Co-op, decided to create a worker co-op of their own: a renewable energy installer that would combine their skill sets while meeting the triple bottom line. The result … Viridian Energy Co-operative Spreads the Warmth of Community
Founded in 2010, SolarShare is Canada’s largest renewable energy co-op. The Co-op owns and operates commercial-scale solar systems throughout Ontario. Once the systems are completed and generating revenue, they are refinanced with community investment—Solar Bonds—from over 2,000 members. Investors in Solar Bonds are also members of the Co-op who are eligible to vote at the … Future Looks Bright for SolarShare – Kenzie Love
One of the first certified organic farms in BC’s Fraser Valley, Glorious Organics began with a group of farmers who seized an opportunity to supply the Northwest Territories pavilion at Expo 86 in Vancouver with a then-novel product: pre-cut salads. The concept was successful enough that the farmers decided they could make a business out … Glorious Organics Values Co-operation, Communication, and Community – Kenzie Love
Long before she even knew about worker co-ops, Danielle Turpin wanted to launch one. After 16 years as a personal support worker, Turpin had had enough of the lack of autonomy, exploitative working conditions, and inadequate staffing that characterized much of the sector. She envisioned a different approach, one where staff and clients got the … Home Care Workers’ Co-op Proves There’s a Better Way – Kenzie Love
By Kenzie Love As a director with the Capital Health Region in Halifax in the early 2000s, Linda Best gained a new awareness of food-related health issues affecting Nova Scotians, among them the declining amount of food being produced in the province. This knowledge spurred her to convene a food summit in 2009, and ultimately … FarmWorks Investment Co-operative Promotes Healthy Farms, Healthy Food
For coopérative Tënk in Montreal, bringing lesser-known documentaries to audiences across Canada is both a passion and a mission. Florence Lamothe, co-founder and general manager of the co-op, explains that “the documentary is a rather under-circulated, under-loved and under-financed medium and cinematographic genre these days.” Tënk aims to address that gap by hosting and highlighting … coopérative Tënk Celebrates Documentaries – Hannah Rackow
When the founders of Together We’re Bitter opened shop six years ago in Kitchener, Ontario, they wanted to create something that would make their surrounding community, in cofounder Alex Szaflarska’s words, “a little bit more interesting and a little bit more fun.” And what better way to do that, they concluded, than a co-operative craft … Together We’re Bitter (TWB) Crafts Community – Kenzie Love
The concept of victory gardens may have originated during World War I, but a Vancouver worker co-op has embraced both the term and the philosophy to keep the tradition alive today. Established in 2012, Victory Gardens grew out of the need its founders saw for people in their community to learn how to grow their … Victory Gardens Helps Support Urban Food Growing – Kenzie Love
By Kenzie Love An environmental consultancy based in Sackville, New Brunswick, Aster Group launched in 2013, the brainchild of a small group whose members all had a history of working for either government or nonprofit organizations. The members wanted an entity that would bring together their expertise in various areas and offer them autonomy while … Aster Group’s Members Have Diverse Skills But Common Values
By Kenzie Love For Vancouver Island-based worker co-op Weaver Digital Design & Storytelling, the year since its launch has been one to remember, with the impact of the pandemic offering both challenges and opportunities. Initial concerns about whether there would be enough work to go around were soon replaced by the realization that there might … Creating Websites Just the Starting Point for Weaver Digital Design & Storytelling