News Flash
The Council
The Council offers a wide variety of services to help facilitate the continued success, growth, and competitiveness of co-operatives
and credit unions in New Brunswick. Whether you're a new or existing co-operative, or are just interested in finding out more about
how to start a co-op, the Council has something for you.
There are nearly 250 co-operatives in New Brunswick, with more than 375,000 members and 4,200 employees. Collectively, we have a strong voice.... JOIN US!
Canada's co-operative sector is celebrating a recent decision by the United Nations General Assembly to proclaim 2012 the International Year of Co-operatives. http://www.coopscanada.coop/en/orphan/International_Year.
Since 1959, the UN has designated International Years in order to draw attention to major issues and to encourage international action to address concerns which have global importance.
"At a time when so many people around the world have a heightened interest in doing business with organizations whose values reflect their own, raising awareness of co-operatives and what they stand for is very important," said Kathy Bardswick, president and CEO of The Co-operators, who was recently elected to represent Canada on the board of the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA).
Read more...
Back row, left to right: Greg LeBlanc, Ken Eliot, Wayne Dempsey, Brian McCullum, Blake Reynolds
Front row, left to right: Mary MacDonald, Denise Fictorie, Wendy Keats, Clark Phillips, Sharon Nussey
At the Annual General Meeting of the Co-operative Enterprise Council on May 28th in Moncton, two incumbent directors, Blake Reynolds (ACYL) and Clark Phillips (Sussex Farmers Market) were re-elected and two new directors, Denise Fictorie (OMISTA Credit Union) and Ken Eliot (Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada) were elected to the Board. For more information about this year's meeting, please see the Annual Report 2009-2010
One of the easiest of the co-op principles to remember is probably Number 6, Co-operation among co-operatives. The wording may be easy to keep in mind, but many co-ops struggle to embody the principle in their day-to-day decision-making and in their planning.
The Collaboration Initiative is currently leading the way in making the sixth principle "second nature" to New Brunswick co-operatives. Thanks to support from the Co-operative Development Initiative, thirty-five co-operators came together in Fredericton recently to identify synergies and opportunities for collaboration. The mix included everyone from producers to specialists in funerals, finances, home care services, communications, agriculture, retail , youth, worker co-ops, and many others. Participants shared their ideas freely as they engaged in a series of exercises designed to get the creative juices flowing. Five key priorities for collaboration were identified by the group:
There was unanimous agreement that co-ops and credit unions would benefit from working more closely together and people were raring to move into the next phase of the project that will involve gathering additional data and a preliminary assessment of the feasibility of the most promising ideas. Stay tuned for more on this exciting initiative in the coming months!
