By Kenzie Love
CWCF’s second-ever fully virtual conference took place from November 19-21 with a theme of Unleashing Worker Co-ops for Success. In keeping with this theme, the event recognized the profound economic, social, and environmental challenges facing both workers and worker co-ops, while also celebrating the creativity, passion, and excitement worker co-ops have shown in overcoming these challenges. Local mixers and /or conference watch parties were hosted with CWCF support in many locations across the country, which helped to meet people’s desire for networking which is a highlight of in-person conferences, without taxing either the financial or GHG budgets of the participants.
Russ Christianson, one of the Conference’s keynote panelists, noted that worker co-ops have two major opportunities arising from challenges Canada faces in the coming years: a large number of small-business owners set to retire, opening the door to co-op conversions, and the desire of most older Canadians to age in place instead of going into long-term care, creating an opportunity for home-care co-ops.
The other keynote panelists made clear these are not the only opportunities. Frédéric Plante of the Quebec Réseau COOP spoke to the tremendous variety of worker co-ops that can exist when there’s a government committed to supporting them as is the case in Quebec; Júlia Martins Rodrigues (a Brazilian co-op lawyer now based in Denver) revealed how informal friendship and collaboration within a worker co-op such as Namaste Solar can lead to a complex multi-stakeholder co-op network; and Mario Cimet’s experience withSolid State Community Industries of Surrey, BC served as an inspiring example of what people from racialized migrant backgrounds have accomplished working cooperatively, well incubated through a university connection and BC provincial funding & a spirit of radical hospitality rooted in anti-colonialism and Indigenous cultures.
The Conference also provided plenty of practical information for attendees, including a reminder of the importance of sound financial management to a co-op’s success, the value of cybersecurity as an investment in a co-op, examples of different governance models, and ways to improve decision making.
A highlight for many was CWCF’s AGM (please see the annual report for the President’s and Executive Director’s reports), which saw the acclamation of directors Reba Plummer and Martin Van Den Borre and the election of Daphane Nelson, and the departure of directors Jessica Provencher and Chris Nichols after a dedicated tenure of varying lengths. Kudos and appreciations go out to Jessica and Chris for their many contributions. There were also moving award presentations to Sustainability Solutions Group and CWCF’s BIPOC Board Advisor Juliet ‘Kego Ume-Onyido In her acceptance speech for the Mark Goldblatt Merit Award, Juliet paid tribute to those who had come before her in the co-operative movement, proclaiming “I come as one, but I stand as 10,000.” It was a powerful moment.
Lastly, the worker co-op compensation forum which closed the Conference served as a reminder that while capitalism exists, we can’t pick and choose which parts of it we want to dismantle if we are going to enact systemic change. While this might seem daunting at times, as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez observed in a quote highlighted by Russ Christianson, “capitalism hasn’t always existed, and it won’t always exist.”
In the meantime, the Conference served as an example of the solidarity-based economic system we wish to create, one guided by a focus on collectivism and relationship building Transform Practice Co-op emphasized in their workshop, Let’s Talk Worker Co-ops. In the words of first-time attendee Michelle D’Souza, the Conference “felt like a teaser of lots of really interesting folks doing fantastic work,” further remarking that, “I’m leaving this feeling both hopeful and inspired and honestly with the way the world is, feeling hopeful, that is something.”
Daphane Nelson observed that the challenge (and opportunity) facing us now is to “Action this inspiration, don’t forget what you learned here over the past three days. So much work needs to be done!!” We hope that all the participants came away from this year’s Conference with that same energy. See you next year in Edmonton, November 18-20, 2025. With 2025 being a UN-declared International Year of Cooperatives, CWCF is planning to have one day of this conference dedicated to IYC 2025.
Videos and slides of those Conference sessions that are available will be posted here in the next few days.