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

A P P E N D I X I ~although the organization has not implemented any training system for its employees. For that,it relies entirely on the fédération, which offers training to fill identified needs. 4Financial StructureDuring the period up to 31 August 1999, the Puvirnituq Co-operative had total sales of $6.7million, but was able to achieve a surplus of only $1,276 (FCNQ 2000 (a), p. 101). This lowsurplus in 1999 can in large measure be explained by the major investments made in recentyears (i.e., the purchase of a hotel and construction of a courthouse). During the 1990s, thePuvirnituq Co-operative was always able to achieve annual surpluses in the neighbourhoodof $100,000.While its financial health is apparently good, the co-operative is nonetheless having to dealwith major problems in its management of customer accounts. There seem to be recurringcredit difficulties in the history of the co-operative, which were first identified in the early1980s (Simard 1982, pp. 352–441). The lax approach to credit policy jeopardizes the cash flowavailable to the co-operative for paying suppliers. On the other hand, this flexibility in terms ofcredit is regarded by the members as one of the main advantages offered by the co-operative.Given how slow some members are to pay their accounts, the co-operative ultimately formulateda new policy for paying rebates to members who are having difficulty making payments.The co-operative takes a 2 percent share out of the 4 percent rebate that is returned to members,which it allocates directly to repaying the debts of delinquent accounts.External EnvironmentThe co-operative’s main competitor is the North West Company, although it is not consideredto be a threat to the viability of the co-operative, which is the first choice of members of thecommunity for making purchases. A representative of the Makivik Corporation and theKativik Regional Government (Tullaugak 2000) even said that the co-operative would nothave been as successful as it is today if it had not had to fend off competition from the formerHudson’s Bay Company. Indeed, the co-operative developed around a movement to opposeand challenge the “White” order of things in Inuit lands. The marginal role the co-operative iscurrently playing in terms of economics and politics is perhaps not entirely unrelated to adecline in combativeness among the Inuit people. According to certain authors (Duhaime1985; Simard 1988), the large influxes of money that resulted from the signing of the agreements($90 million) not only had a demotivating effect on the population, but was also animpediment to Aboriginal development, creating major distortions in the regional economy.4 The FCNQ offers co-operatives training on request in various subjects (e.g., computers, accounting, humanresources). The training is offered both to members of the board and the general manager and to employees.316 ~