The Latest News From Canada's Worker Co-op Sector
June 2020 Volume 12 Issue 6
In This Issue

  • Report from the Executive Director, by Hazel Corcoran
  • Webinar: Nathan Schneider on "A Shared Strategy for Shared Ownership: Covid, Care, and Reparations"
  • Call for Resolutions and Nominations/Appel à résolutions et nominations
  • CWCF Launches Solidarity Shopping Site
  • Hypha Worker Co-operative Seeks to Build Bridges, by Kenzie Love
  • Worker Co-ops Show Ingenuity in Coping With Covid-19, by Kenzie Love
  • Board Member Profile: Yvonne Chiu, by Kenzie Love
  • Arts and Culture Grant Awarded
  • Wayfinders Cafe with Hazel Corcoran on Worker Co-ops – Post COVID
  • How to Build an Economy for the 99 percent, by Wendy Keats
  • Announcements
  • Changement de garde à la direction de la FQCF/Change of Leadership at FQCF's Management
  • Le Réseau COOP: Le Québec post-pandémie: Rêvons à ce monde d’après/Post-pandemic Quebec: Dreaming of the World After
  • York University Professor Recognized for Work on Co-operatives and Informal Economies
  • How a Canadian Newsroom Launched a Co-op to Save Itself from Bankruptcy
  • Draft of Worker Co-operative Act Submitted to Japanese House of Representatives
Report from the Executive Director

By Hazel Corcoran
Government relations in support of expanding the worker co-op model / Covid19 : Emergency Supports to members / Virtual Coffee Breaks / BLM / Upcoming “ keynote ” by Nathan Schneider

If anyone sees this newsletter very shortly after it first appears, please note that I will be interviewed by the Wayfinders' Business Co-operative at 3 pm Eastern Time on June 24th, not the date earlier reported. See the article near the end of this newsletter.

CWCF is continuing its efforts to support our members and grow the worker co-op sector in Canada during these challenging times. Our rece nt funding proposal f or $100 million to the federal government focused on conversions of failing or threatened businesses has been met with considerable interest from MPs from multiple parties, and we have held meetings with political staff of several different Ministers.

Webinar: Nathan Schneider on "A Shared Strategy for Shared Ownership: Covid, Care, and Reparations"

Tuesday July 28, noon - 1:30 pm ET
Nathan Schneider, author of Everything for Everyone: The Radical Tradition that Is Shaping the Next Economy will speak on how the economic crisis Covid-19 has created makes having a visionary strategy essential - in lieu of giving the CWCF Conference keynote in the fall. In his words: "We need to activate cooperative ownership as a powerful, necessary tool for confronting the crisis we're in, not just around the margins but in addressing central challenges facing the economy today." CWCF's proposal will be briefly presented as one possibility. There will be an opportunity for discussion and questions.

Call for Resolutions and Nominations / Appel à résolutions et nominations
The CWCF AGM will take place in November. Resolutions are due September 12, and nominations for the board are requested by October 31.



L'AGA de la CWCF aura lieu en novembre. Les résolutions doivent être présentées le 12 septembre et les candidatures au conseil sont cherchées par le 31 octobre.

CWCF Launches Solidarity Shopping Site

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced many of our members to alter their usual modes of operation, including changing their store hours or offering online services. We want to support and promote our members, which is why we’ve created the Solidarity Shopping program, an initiative that will allow CWCF members and other worker co-ops to shop from each other.

Hypha Worker Co-operative Seeks to Build Bridges

By Kenzie Love
When a group of tech professionals in Toronto decided they wanted to band together in late 2018 to create Hypha , the worker co-op model seemed like a natural fit. It was such a natural fit, in fact, that no one can pinpoint the precise moment when they decided to go that route.

Worker Co-ops Show Ingenuity in Coping With Covid-19

By Kenzie Love

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced all small and medium-size enterprises to change how they do business, and worker co-ops have been no exception. Where they have stood apart, however, is the way in which they’ve responded. By demonstrating flexibility, concern for community, and democratic worker control, worker co-ops have shown why they’re especially resilient in times of crisis.

Board Member Profile: Yvonne Chiu

By Kenzie Love
Yvonne Chiu was elected to CWCF’s board of directors in November 2019. A founding member of Multicultural Health Brokers (MCHB) in Edmonton, she has served with MCHB since its establishment as a worker co-op in 1998.

Arts and Culture Grant Awarded
CWCF wishes to congratulate a group led by Neria Aylward of the Social Justice Co-operative NL for receiving this year's arts and culture grant, funded by a bequest from the late CWCF board president, Mark Goldblatt. The group will commission a series of seven illustrations by St. John's artist Molly Graham based on the seven co-op principles, each one highlighting a different Newfoundland co-operative. Stay tuned for more details in the coming months.
Wayfinders Cafe with Hazel Corcoran on Worker Co-ops – Post COVID

June 24 at 3 pm ET
As Canada reopens the business community and we reach for a  New Normal , we ask some tough questions. Many people are unemployed, including people who have lost their businesses.  Is there a better way forward?  What have we learned about ourselves, business and the economy that suggests that we should consider more seriously the  worker co-operative business model ?

How to Build an Economy for the 99 Percent

By Wendy Keats

In this edition of her blog series, Wendy Keats lays out five tried-and-proven strategies for building a new economy that works for the good of all people and our planet. And she goes one step further to show how it can all be done without costing taxpayers any new money .

Announcements

  • July 4 is International Day of Co-operatives, with a focus this year on #Coops4ClimateAction.
  • Worker Democracy Weekend will take place online July 3-4 this year, this events commemorating the 150th anniversary of the founding of one of the UK's most successful early co-ops.
  • The Canadian Co-operative Investment Fund recently hosted three webinars on alternative financing options. The recordings and slides are available here.
  • The ECEF is accepting applications. The Emerging Co-operators Education Fund exists to support young co‑operators’ and mutualists' access to learning opportunities.
  • AORTA has created a toolkit for Dismantling Anti-black Bias In Democratic Workplaces.
Changement de garde à la direction de la FQCF

La Fédération québécoise des coopératives forestières (FQCF) annonce le départ du directeur général de l’organisation, M. Jocelyn Lessard, et son remplacement par la directrice générale adjointe, Mme Annie Beaupré. La FCCT remercie infiniement Jocelyn pour toute sa collaboration fort appréciée, et souhaite la bienvenue à Annie Beaupré!



Changing Leadership at FQCF's Management

The Québec Federation of Forestry Cooperatives (FQCF) is announcing that its Executive Director, Mr. Jocelyn Lessard, is leaving his position and that he will be replaced by Deputy Executive Director Ms. Annie Beaupré. CWCF expresses deep appreciation to Jocelyn for his long collaboration with us, and welcome Annie Beaupré!

Le Québec post-pandémie: Rêvons à ce monde d’après

Le Réseau de la coopération du travail du Québec, appuyé par plus de 80 organisations œuvrant dans divers secteurs d’activité économique à travers la province, lance un appel à la population pour réfléchir au Québec d’après la pandémie de la COVID-19. Les signataires comprennent Hazel Corcoran, Directrice générale, FCCT.



Post-Pandemic Quebec: Dreaming of the World Afte r

The impact of the health crisis is felt both in companies, society and workers in all sectors. This period brings us to think and dream of the next world.
A world where it is possible to build and think differently a creative, constructive, transforming economy that respects the environment and humanity.

The Quebec Co-op Network ("Réseau COOP") and more than a hundred of its members and partners want to share their desires for a more just, fair and supportive future in Quebec.

Read the full letter that was published in Le Droit with over 80 signatories, including CWCF's Executive Director, Hazel Corcoran.
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York University Professor Recognized for Work on Co-operatives and Informal Economies

Dr. Caroline Shenaz Hossein has had a lot to celebrate this year. The recipient of the 2020 Comparative & International Education Society (CIES) African Diaspora Special Group’s Emerging Scholar honour and Rodney Higgins Faculty Award was, for the third straight year, named one of York University’s research leaders. Hossein also co-created the recent documentary The Banker Ladies , a film about cooperatives and mutual aid among Black Canadian women in Toronto.

How a Canadian Newsroom Launched a Co-op to Save Itself from Bankruptcy

As COVID-19 has brought newsrooms worldwide to their knees, one French Canadian outlet is flourishing — less than a year after going bankrupt.

Draft of Worker Co-operative Act Submitted to Japanese House of Representatives

The Japan Worker Co-operative Union is pleased to announce the draft of the "Worker Cooperatives Act" was submitted to the House of Representatives in Japan on 12th June, 2020 with the support of all political parties and all factions, with signature of 15 submitters and 53 supporters (all of them are members of the House of Representatives)! This is an epoch-making event not only for worker cooperative movements in Japan but also for the whole cooperative movement.

The Canadian Worker Co-operative Federation (CWCF) is a national, bilingual grassroots membership organization of and for worker co-operatives, related types of co-operatives (multi-stakeholder co-ops and worker-shareholder co-ops), and organizations that support the growth and development of worker cooperatives. CWCF's e-newsletter is available free of charge to anyone with an e-mail address and an interest in worker co-operative developments in Canada. Please send any comments and suggestions, or news about your co-op, to:  

Kenzie Love
Editor of CWCF Newsletter 
(403) 276-8250 
CWCF | 104 402 30 Ave NE, Calgary, AB T2E 2E3 | 403-276-8250 |