At the Annual General Meetings of the Canadian Co-operative Association (CCA) and the Conseil canadien de la coopération et de la mutualité (CCCM), in Edmonton last week, delegates voted to create a single bilingual organization to represent co-ops, credit unions and mutual insurance companies for all of Canada.
This is a historic decision because of the long-standing linguistic divide between English- and French-speaking co-operators, stretching back to the birth of the Canadian co-operative movement in the 19th century.
The new organization is tentatively named Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada, and is expected to be launched in early 2014, taking over the domestic mandates of the CCA and the CCCM. CCEDNet members Hazel Corcoran from the Canadian Worker Co-operative Federation and Vera Goussaert from the Manitoba Co-operative Association have been named to the interim Board.
Also at the Congress, CCEDNet member and longtime CED leader Melanie Conn received CCA’s Canadian Co-operative Achievement Award.
Congratulations to CCA, CCCM, Melanie and all of Canada’s dedicated co-operators who are building a better world.
