Nelson Cooperators Launch Their International Year
By Nelson Daily Staff
By Bill Metcalfe, The Nelson Daily
Nelson is a hotbed of cooperatives—the Nelson and District Credit Union, the Kootenay Coop, the Kootenay Bakery, Kootenay Co-op Radio, Kootenay Carshare, and the list goes on.
This is their year to shine, because 2012 is the International Year of Cooperatives, with celebrations and events locally and across the globe.
A local launch
Representatives of local coops gathered on January 22 at Kootenay Co-op Radio to launch their year. Upper Columbia Co-op Council (UCCC) coordinator Zoe Creighton took the podium and outlined a busy year of special events coming up. Then everyone chatted, networked and ate (food from the Kootenay Co-op and the Kootenay Bakery Co-op, of course).
Keeping the money in the community
In a cooperative, the members are the owners, and each member gets one vote about the workings of the enterprise. Credit unions are probably the most well-known form of cooperative. Corky Evans is a board member at the Heritage Credit Union, which operates in Castlegar, Slocan Park, and Greenwood. “We get a job, we get some money, we put it in the credit union,” he said, “and then we loan it to our neighbours so they can have a house or a car or send their kids to college. It’s a way a community can use its own capital and not have to get it from Montreal or New York.”
International events
Locally and across the globe, the International Year of Cooperatives will feature educational events, documentary projects, art and photography competitions, and other celebrations. For example, the online Story Project will feature a new story each day from one of the thousands of coops across the world. On the educational front locally, the UCCC, Selkirk College, and Simon Fraser University will collaborate to offer eight courses over a year on community economic development and cooperatives, starting in July.
The power of sharing
“Co-ops humanize the economy, bringing democracy to it,” says UCCC board member Bradley Roulston. “I’ve always been a big believer in sharing. Instead of owning a car why not just be a member of a group where we share a car? Another reason why I love coops is because they are locally owned, so money stays in our economy.”
The alternative to Wall Street?
“Co-ops are very timely right now,” says Jocelyn Carver of the Kootenay Co-op, “the 99% movement, the Arab Spring– everyday people are deciding they don’t want to wait any more for someone to take care of them and give them a safe and fullfulling life. Self-help– people coming together to determine and deliver their own needs–that is what co-ops are all about.”
Cooperatives operate on a set of principles including voluntary and open membership, democratic member control, and member economic participation. The video Cooperatives in the Kootenays by Number Five Productions explains how these principles play out locally.
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