Cover Story: 'Co-ops Mean Business' Conference a Success
	From 31 May to 2 June, co-operative business in British Columbia got the chance to pool ideas and strengthen ties between co-ops during British Columbia Institute for Co-operative Studies' 'Co-ops Mean Business' conference. [Full Story]

	Agricultural Co-op Research at BCICS
	Heather McNeill and Chris Garrish conducted research this summer with BCICS. Heather, having recently completed her M.Sc. in Agricultural Economics, has been researching agricultural co-ops in British Columbia. Chris Garrish, a graduate student in History, researched B.C. land tenure systems and policy. [Full Story]

	Sointula: A Mecca for Co-operatives
	Malcolm Island has been a hub of co-operative activity ever since Matti Kurikka and his fellow utopians sought it out as a location for their intentional community. These Finnish settlers called their new home Sointula-Finnish for Harmony-and set up a co-operatively-run business called the Kalevan Kansa, in 1901. [Full Story]

Why Co-op Studies? "As local community decays along with local economy, a vast amnesia settles over the countryside...local knowledge and local memory are forgotten under the influence of homogenized sales talk, entertainment, and education. This loss of local knowledge and memory-that is, of local culture-has been ignored, or written off as one of the cheaper "prices of progress" or made the business of folklorists. Nevertheless, local culture has a value, and part of its value is economic."    - Wendell Berry

	BCICS Researchers Attend UCCB Workshop
	BCICS researchers Laura Sjolie and Michael Burdge attended a Community Economic Development Student Research Workshop this summer hosted by the Tompkins Institute, at the University of Cape Breton Community College. The aim of the workshop was to take in nation-wide examples of graduate students' work in the field of community development. [Full Story]

	Camp Rainbow Teaches Co-operation Among Youth / Youth Report
	Camp Rainbow is a Co-operative Youth Leadership program for youth aged 14 to 18 years old. Participants attend a Basic camp, during the summer, with many continuing on to the Advanced and Grad levels the next year. [Full Story] [see also Youth Report: My Time at Camp Rainbow]

	Some Thoughts from the Director of BCICS
	Why is it that the study of co-operative organisations, thought and movements is rare at Canadian universities? For example, why do so many academics ignore movements that include some 14,000,000 members in Canada and some 750,000,000 members around the world, even when they are central parts of the social and economic phenomena in which they are interested?

	Future of Government Support for Co-ops Precarious in "New Era"
	The future of development dollars for co-ops in BC is uncertain in the face of ministry reorganisation by the new Liberal government. [Full Story]

	Soaring Sisters: A Co-op to Create Opportunities for Cape Breton Women
	Soaring Sisters Enterprises Co-operative is a Women's Co-operative whose mandate is to provide greater opportunity for all women in Cape Breton to partake in the social, public, and private economies. [Full Story]

	Funding Source for Co-ops
	Because of the recent provincial government funding freeze for co-op development in BC, co-operatives interested in funding sources should check out Community Economic Development Technical Assistance Program (CEDTAP) [read more]

Counting Communities In! Economic Solutions for British Columbia. Announcing the BC Community Economic Development Network

BCCEDNet - Fall 2001 Campaign. There will be a series of regional forums across BC, regarding the importance of a lively public, private and community partnership in creating new economic opportunities in BC. The forums will be held in Smithers, Prince George, Abbotsford, Christina Lake, Victoria, Port McNeil, Kamloops, New Westminster and Williams Lake. For more information go the website: www.bccednetwork.org