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 EThird, if managed effectively, co-operatives deepen relationships with members over time byencouraging them systematically to expand their investments in equity and by involving themin a range of activities in the co-operative. They can also, as the experience of the Arctic cooperativesdramatically demonstrates, expand in many creative ways the range of economicand social services they provide their members. In many Arctic communities, for example,co-operatives not only operate stores and sell Inuit art: they operate hotels, tourist businesses,machinery repair, and post offices—in fact, any kind of business that is needed in thecommunity and can be operated effectively.Fourth, the basis in member and community needs, the democratic structures, and thedeepening of member participation mean that co-operatives could become one powerfulresponse to the challenge posed by the Wahbung statement of the Manitoba IndianBrotherhood in the late 1960s:A century of government administration and government and church control and theeffects of living in an atmosphere of state dependency, where virtually all decisionsrelating to your life and your future are made by others will require developing newmethods of response and community involvement. 12Fifth, co-operatives stress the importance of autonomy from politics and private enterprise, andthat autonomy is often a key to their success. For example, one of the reasons that the Arcticco-operatives became so successful was that they distanced themselves from politics andworked out effective relationships with governments.The Suitability of the Co-op ModelThe co-op model conforms with the priorities for economic developmentidentified by the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.• it makes room “so that Aboriginal people can develop their own solutions”;• it respects “the collectivity in Aboriginal society”;• it recognizes that “the economic development of any community is aprocess—a complicated and difficult one”; and• it locates “authority and resources to support economic development in thehands of appropriate Aboriginal institutions at the level of the nation andcommunity.”“Economic Development,” RCAP, chapter five, p. 3.12 Frank Cassidy and Robert Bish, Indian Government: Its Meaning in Practice (Lantzville, BC: Oolichan Booksand The Institute for Research on Public Policy, 1995), p. 94.~ 25