Aboriginal Co-operatives in Canada - Centre for the Study of Co ...

~ T H E C U R R E N T S T A T EUnderstanding the ContextAboriginal leaders have expressed a preference for economicdevelopment conceived of as a process that takes intoaccount the history, collective aspirations, economic diversity,and underlying realities of each Aboriginal community.Making the Link between Aboriginal Economic Development and Co-operativesThe various statements made by Aboriginal leaders about how they would like to see theireconomies develop invites some reflection on how well the co-operative approach conformswith their stated ideals.The co-operative movement extends ownership and control to the people who are involved init as members; it is a movement with a long history and a demonstrated capacity to meet allkinds of needs.Registered, formally organized co-operatives were first established in Europe during thenineteenth century by people concerned about protecting their interests and improving theireconomic and social well-being. Based on the fundamental principles of one member, onevote, the practice of rewarding people in proportion to their participation, and the use ofeducation as a means of empowering people, the multifaceted “organized” movement hadspread throughout most of the European continent by the beginning of the twentieth century.In the wake of European migrations, co-operative organizations were established in most ofthe rest of the world as well. Today, the co-operatives affiliated with the International CooperativeAlliance are involved in hundreds of different kinds of businesses; all told, todaythey have more than eight hundred million members in over one hundred countries.This institutionalized version of co-operative behaviour, however, must be placed in the contextof informal forms of co-operation. In fact, the progress made by co-operative movementsaround the world corresponds well with the degree to which societies and communities traditionallyembraced spontaneous co-operative activities, be it the seal hunt, the harvesting ofgrains, the collective marketing of produce, the joint purchasing of food and supplies, mutualaid in times of adversity, the sale of art, the sharing of workplace skills, the collective provisionof shelter, and community access to health services. Well-rooted co-operative organizationsare not just the impositions of an institutional form; they often are the outward manifestationsof a deep understanding of the benefits of collaborative behaviour—the kind ofunderstanding that emanates most persuasively from the communal cultures of people,including Aboriginal peoples in many parts of the world. For that reason alone, the futurefor co-operative development among Aboriginal people is promising, given their commondevotion and capacity for collective behaviour.~ 23