The Latest News From Canada's Worker Co-op Sector
February 2020 Volume 12 Issue 2
In This Issue
  • Report from the Executive Director
  • Reminder: 2020 CWCF Membership Renewal
  • Welcome New Members!
  • Multicultural Health Brokers Cooperative Is a Co-op That Builds Community By Kenzie Love
  • Employee Succession: The Co-op Solution By Kenzie Love
  • Arts and Culture Granting Program to Award Additional Prize
  • Webinar: Chucking the Co-operative Principles at the Peril of Worker Co-operatives
  • Succession Planning – How Jason LeJeune Sold His Business to His Employees By Duncan Matheson, CEC-NB
  • CWCF Executive Director Interviewed on CBC/La directrice générale de FCCT interviewé à Radio-Canada
  • Meet Laura MacDonald, a Fan of Elbow Grease, Ink and Her Half-tonne Printing Press
  • The Man of Wind, Water and Sun
  • Le nouvelles du Réseau COOP
  • International Centre for Co-operative Management New Webinar Series - Register Today!
  • Webinar: Bylaws - Shaping and Understanding Your Worker Co-op's Governance
  • The Year in Global Platform Co-operatives
  • Apply for the NASCO Board of Directors!
  • Call for Consultant: #coopYouth Network Publication of Best Practices
Report from the Executive Director
The latest on CWCF's upcoming conference, changes to our logo and website, and more.

Reminder: 2020 CWCF Membership Renewal
We know that our members have found value in belonging to this movement, whether through technical assistance grants they’ve received, webinars or conferences they’ve participated in, or just the knowledge that they’re part of something bigger than themselves. That’s why we’re inviting our members to continue to participate in and strengthen the worker co-op movement by renewing their membership with CWCF for 2020.

Ready to renew your membership now? click here.

Want to read more?
Welcome New Members!
CWCF is pleased to have recently welcomed two worker co-ops as members. Please join us in congratulating The Allium in Calgary and Arise Architects in Guelph.

Multicultural Health Brokers Cooperative Is a Co-op That Builds Community

By Kenzie Love
From humble beginnings as a pilot project focused on expecting parents in Edmonton’s Chinese immigrant community, Multicultural Health Brokers Cooperative has grown to a worker co-operative of 100 workers serving members of all ages from 30 different ethnolinguistic communities.

Employee Succession: The Co-op Solution

By Kenzie Love
“Where there's a problem,” says Wendy Keats of the Co-op Enterprise Council of New Brunswick (CECNB), “there's usually a co-op solution.”

When it comes to the future of many small and medium-sized businesses in Canada, it’s hard to dispute that there’s a problem.

Arts and Culture Granting Program to Award Additional Prize
CWCF is pleased to announce that in addition to the grant of up to $1000 funded by the late Mark Goldblatt, we will be awarding a grant of $350 to the second-place applicant courtesy of the Big Idea Foundation.

Upcoming CWCF Webinars
Learn how worker co-ops fit into the SSE and the role of social enterprise. Presented by Sonja Novkovic.

March 27, 12 - 1 p.m. ET
Learn how and why worker co-ops rely on the seven co-op principles to deal with challenges. Presented by Eric Tusz-King.

Both webinars are free for CWCF members, $20 each for non-members.
Succession Planning – How Jason LeJeune Sold His Business to His Employees

By Duncan Matheson, CEC-NB
In a recent blog on succession planning by CECNB’s Executive Director, Wendy Keats, she referenced Jason LeJeune, former owner of the popular Isaac’s Way restaurant in Fredericton. Today, we go a little deeper into Jason’s story to learn more about how and why he made the decision to sell his eatery to his core employees - rather than search out a traditional buyer. You’ll find that the decision connects nicely with his business philosophy.

CWCF Executive Director Interviewed on CBC/La directrice générale de FCCT interviewé à Radio-Canada
CWCF Executive Director Hazel Corcoran gave an interview last month to the Radio-Canada French language program Point du jour on the situation in Regina with the FCL refinery & Unifor. The segment is called "Dynamique des coopératives".


La directrice générale de la FCCT, Hazel Corcoran, a accordé une entrevue en français le mois dernier à l'émission Point du jour de Radio-Canada sur la situation concernant la raffinerie FCL & Unifor à Regina.

Meet Laura MacDonald, a Fan of Elbow grease, Ink and Her Half-tonne Printing Press
CBC News interviews Laura MacDonald, CWCF's RRSP Program Assistant, about her other job creating posters at Deep Hollow Print Shop in North Alton, Nova Scotia.

The Man of Wind, Water and Sun
An activist and environmentalist, Toronto lawyer Brian Iler has been the creative legal mind behind a host of cutting-edge renewable energy projects, social ventures and co-ops that have challenged received wisdom.

Le nouvelles du Réseau COOP
En bref dans cette édition du bulletin:

·          La semaine d’innovation sociale du Pôle IDEOS à HEC
·         Expo Entrepreneurs
·         Lancement de l'Espace culturel autochtone à Shawinigan - Coop Nitaskinan
·         Les Coopératives s'invitent
·         Formation : C'est quoi une COOP? 
·         Formation: Parcours Plus Marketing
·         Entreprises Libérées - Midi-Conférence
·         Publication du Chantier de l'ÉS - "Cadre de référence de l'Économie sociale"

Claudia, Our Unstoppable Leader!

By Alex Miranda, Prospera Co-ops
Prospera is a series of worker co-ops that started out called the least toxic cleaning co-ops, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It then became WAGES, Women's Action to Gain Economic Security.

On behalf of Prospera’s board of directors I’m delighted to share some exciting news at Prospera. As you may already know, this year, the board officially welcomes  Claudia Arroyo as our new Co-Executive Director. Please join me in congratulating her!

International Centre for Co-operative Management New Webinar Series - Register Today!
We are thrilled to announce the International Centre for Co-operative Management's Special Topics Webinar Series. Tune in to upcoming webinars! (Free to participate!)

Webinar: Bylaws - Shaping and Understanding Your Worker Co-op's Governance
This webinar from the US Federation of Worker Co-ops will explore how worker co-ops set up governance documents that reflect their values, are understandable and also hold up as legal documents (please note that the specific practices will be different in Canada, though the same general principles will apply).

The Year in Global Platform Co-operatives
Check out this 2019 year in review from The Platform Cooperative Consortium updating you on the cooperative digital economy, including numerous internationally based cooperatives.

Apply for the NASCO Board of Directors!
The NASCO Board is opening applications to fill three open board seats. Appointments are for one year terms from April 2020 to March 2021. Nominations for appointed seats closes on February 28, 2020.
Appointments will be made on March 7, 2020.

Call for Consultant: #coopYouth Network Publication of Best Practices
In 2018 and 2019, the Youth Network started a campaign to map youth coops and initiatives to support youth coops. Hundreds answered and the final analysis and mapping will be finished in the coming months. The next stage of the project is to connect and inspire youth by creating a publication of best practices.

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