What can we learn from Northern Co-operatives?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:58 — 36.6MB)

In 2009, co-operative scholar and educator Ian MacPherson urged researchers to continue studying and learning from the Northern Co-operative experience.

Now, the Canadian Centre for the Study of Co-operatives (CCSC) is heeding MacPherson’s advice with a series of projects it hopes will be beneficial to northern communities and co-ops across the country.

This new research is being launched as the North has become a strategic focus for Canada’s sovereignty and growth. 

At the same time, residents continue to face threats to their survival and traditional ways of life due to food insecurity, climate change and inadequate supply chains.

Maybe that’s why co-ops and the co-operative principles are so fully embraced and community engagement is so strong.

Natalie Kallio of CCSC shares what we can continue to learn from these unique co-ops in the North. Her paper in The Northern Review is insightful reading.