Over more than 40 years, the Winnipeg store now called Organic Planet has had several different names but one common mission: the distribution of food that matters. This long journey began when a consumer co-op known as Harvest Collective opened in 1978, which ultimately declared bankruptcy in 1999 and closed its doors. A former member … Organic Planet Offers Food With a Philosophy- Kenzie Love
By Kenzie Love From humble beginnings as a pilot project focused on expecting parents in Edmonton’s Chinese immigrant community, Multicultural Health Brokers Cooperative (MCHB) has grown to a worker co-operative of 100 workers serving members of all ages from 30 different ethnolinguistic communities. Yvonne Chiu, the co-op’s executive director, has been with MCHB for this … Multicultural Health Brokers Creates Health Through Community
By Kenzie Love Vancouver’s Wood Shop Workers’ Co-op produces a wide variety of products out of reclaimed wood, crafting everything from bed frames to kitchen tables. The unifying theme, however, is to create furniture that looks good, feels good, and does good. Incorporated in 2014, Wood Shop emerged out of a local social enterprise incubator … Vancouver’s Wood Shop Workers’ Co-op Builds with Community
Just Us! Coffee Roasters Co-op began in 1995 as the brainchild of a small group of friends (hence the name “Just Us!”). The founders had little in the way of business experience or resources, but they shared an interest in owning their own business and promoting fair trade, which was still a relatively novel idea … Just Us! is a Coffee Roaster with a Mission -Kenzie Love
Vancouver worker co-op Shift Delivery launched in August, 2011, with a vision of reducing the impact of goods movement and creating empowering green jobs. To all appearances, the co-op has succeeded on both counts. Shift estimates that in the five years from 2012-2017, it avoided 70 tonnes of CO2 emissions that would have arisen from … Shift Delivery Promotes Sustainability – Kenzie Love
By Kenzie Love Like many developmental services workers, Claire Maxwell faced a difficult choice when it came to breaking into the industry — working for a large, private company that would offer her little or no say in its operations, or working on her own, isolating her from others in the field and offering no … DSW Co-operative Embraces Co-op Alternative for Developmental Services Work
By Kenzie Love Queer spaces are scarce in Halifax these days, and until recently, queer-owned worker co-ops were non-existent there. And then along came Glitter Bean Cafe, which while still in its infancy, has succeeded by being both. The Cafe, a member of CWCF, is the successor to predecessors at the same location that operated … Glitter Bean Cafe Offers Safe Space for Halifax’s Queer Community
By Kenzie Love and Tim Hanlon-Wilde From its humble beginnings in the community kitchen of an Ottawa church to its current location in a 10,000 square foot warehouse, La Siembra has come a long way over the past 20 years. As it marks the two decades since its founding in 1999, the co-op faces its … La Siembra Co-op Celebrates 20 Years
For many breweries, fulfilling a goal of creating and selling great-tasting beer might be reason enough to celebrate. Not so, however, for London Brewing Co-operative. The first co-op brewery to open in Canada outside Quebec, London Brewing wanted people to enjoy its products, of course. But they also wanted to use organic and sustainable ingredients, … London Brewing Succeeds by Emphasizing Community – Kenzie Love
As in many other countries, Canada’s print media are in the midst of challenging times. A growing concentration in ownership has meant that just a few companies publish the vast majority of the nation’s daily newspapers, while a slew of weekly and monthly newspapers have recently closed. Alternative weeklies, one of the last remaining sources … Hullabaloo Publishing Talks about Challenges Facing Canadian Media – Kenzie Love