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

A P P E N D I X I ~Social AttitudesPreceding sections have devoted a lot of attention to problems related to a shortage of appropriateand adequate access to technical and financial support in relation to the community developmentneeds of Winnipeg’s inner-city. The paramount issues emerging from the experiencesof Neechi Foods and other WNFED affiliates, however, relate to how people think andfeel, and to how well they manage to work together in pursuing common community goals.Because of time and space considerations, attention to this fundamental area of concern islimited in this report. And unfortunately, this space allocation unwittingly reflects the weightgiven to the conscious building of co-operative human relations in actual development work.At Neechi Foods and at other WNFED projects, more and more attention is being devoted todeveloping positive social relationships. Some of the concerns are specific to inner-city life,but most relate to the world-wide conflict between highly commercialized value systems andcommunity needs. An example of an important workplace issue is the question of how to giveand receive advice in a manner that is mutually strengthening. This means working systematicallyat overcoming competitive individualism based on insecurity generated by commercialvalues, hierarchical social structures, colonial conditions, and exploitative human relationshipsgenerally. Quite a mouthful, quite a challenge!On the customer side of Neechi’s experiences, large numbers of people want the positive socialthings that the store stands for. Many who have reasonable access to the store, however, do notshop there. Either they do not really think that the store is very significant, do not understandhow important each customer is, or are unwilling to depart from conventional supermarketshopping. As Neechi’s manager likes to put it: “It’s not enough to talk the talk. We also haveto walk the walk!”372 ~