Longtime CCEDNet Member and Francophone CED Champion, Ethel Côté, Appointed to the Order of Ontario

December 22, 2016

Ethel Côté and Marguerite Mendell at ECONOUS2016

Ethel Côté with fellow CCEDNet member and appointee to the Order of Quebec, Marguerite Mendell at ECONOUS2016 [photo by Stephanie Colvey]

Longtime member of the Canadian CED Network, Ethel Côté, is among 26 new appointees to the Order of Ontario for her support of “Francophone community economic development in Ontario and Canada for 35 years.”

Ethel is an entrepreneur, volunteer and community leader. She is the founder of MécènESS, the first French-language crowdfunding platform. She also co-chairs the Alliance économique francophone, is a specialist in social enterprise with the Canadian Centre for Community Renewal (CCCR), and is a Director at CoopZone, La Nouvelle Scène, the Centre Espoir Sophie. She is also President of Vox Théâtre. In May, she helped MC ECONOUS2016, our national CED conference, in Montréal.

Over the last 30 years Ethel has assisted the development of over 150 social enterprises in a variety of sectors, including agricultural, agrifood, cultural, housing and childcare. In addition to teaching college and university, Ethel has mentored hundreds of communities and social entrepreneurs throughout Canada, is a member of the Canadian CED Network, and founding member of the Social Enterprise Council of Canada. She supported capacity building missions in Mali, Niger, Senegal, Republic of Congo, Romania and Morocco and is involved in the International Network for the Promotion of the Social Solidarity Economy-North America (RIPESS- NA) and the Social Enterprise World Forum (SEWF). A few years ago, Ethel joined CCCR, committed to crafting solutions and adaptations to the critical challenges stemming from climate change and peak oil.

The Canadian CED Network wishes to express its sincere congratulations to our dear friend Ethel for this well-deserved honour!

For more information: https://news.ontario.ca