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

~ C A S E S T U D I E Sthey sold, the only significant variable being the effectiveness of their management. At thevery least they were market-place regulators of the pricing of consumer goods. For that reasonalone, they soon became a common feature of almost all the northern communities.Most importantly, the co-operative stores contributed significantly to the development of thesocial capital of the region. By the time they reached a steady state of about forty-five stores,they were involving some 250 people annually on their board of directors. Over the years, theco-operatives have trained an estimated 2,000 people in their roles as directors. They have alsobeen for many years significant employers—indeed, after government, the second largest employerof Aboriginal peoples in the North. Today, they employ directly 750 people and theyhave developed training programmes that, formally and informally, have educated thousandsof northerners.During the 1960s and 1970s, the movement was particularly engaged in the training of peopleboth within the region and in classes at the Co-operative College of Canada in Saskatoon. In away they were too successful, as the people once trained moved on to other jobs and vocations.Many of the elected people went on into the politics of the region, within Inuit organizations,in the House of Commons and, ultimately in the Nunavut Legislature. Many who first earnedemployment in the co-operatives went on to work in government and private companies,attracted by southern pay scales and better fringe benefits. Several went into business forthemselves, sometimes in competition with the co-operatives where they had once worked.This continuous expansion of “human capacity” was an important contribution to the socialand political economies of the northern region.As the years went by, the northern co-operatives became a considerable engine of growth forthe Arctic region. In many communities they were the only private business; in others theywere significant competitors in the retail trades, the only protection from gouging by privatecompanies. The co-ops were also remarkably entrepreneurial as they became engaged in whateverkinds of businesses made economic sense: they operated repair shops for the skidoos theysold, ran hotels, organized charters for southern tourists, provided mail service, delivered fuel,opened video shops, built houses, and operated cable television services. They became remarkabletestimonies to the capacity of northerners, particularly Aboriginal northerners, to tailorbusiness activities to whatever economic opportunities existed.Creating Arctic Co-operatives LimitedEffective co-operative movements are typically about more than local co-operatives; theyare almost invariably organized in federations, groupings, or alliances that achieve benefitsof scale by working together to purchase jointly whatever goods or services they need, tocollaborate in training programmes, to sell collectively when it is in their interest to do so,~ 275