BCICS is in the final stages of completing a lengthy survey of British Columbia’s co-operative development. The “Situating Co-ops” project offers insights in to the relation (both historical and contemporary) between co-operatives and the communities where they are located. The project, which began in 2001, is a culmination of work from a long list of BCICS researchers. Results of the study will be made available through a short chapter book which is expected to be published in the fall of 2006.

The book highlights eight community case studies of specific areas around British Columbia: Malcolm Island, the Cowichan Valley, Dawson Creek, Commercial Drive in Vancouver, Prince Rupert, the lower Okanagan region, Nelson and area, and Vanderhoof.

In each case study we explored both historic and contemporary development of co-operatives and credit unions. Using an historical context of social and economic developments in each region, we have traced when co-operatives began to form in this area, what type of co-ops formed, how they impacted the local and regional economy, along with identifying some of the challenges they faced and the factors that contributed to their growth.

What we have found is that most of the early co-ops (1890s to the 1930s) were in the resource sector (fruit, diary, fishing) along with a sprinkling of consumer co-ops. The 1940s and 50s reflect the growth of the credit union movement in BC. Although co-ops continue to arise throughout each decade, the next strong wave of co-operative development comes in the 1970s in housing, food, and consumer co-ops. During the 1990s, there was a proliferation of new co-ops – many of them in niche markets such as eco-tourism, artisan co-ops, and the transportation sector. Along with these are new consumer, resource, and worker co-operatives.

The goal of the project has been to provide a description of co-operative activity, which we hope will lead to a better understanding of how co-operatives connect to their communities, and how people in the past and present have utilized co-operatives as a collective form of organization to meet their individual and community needs.

Joy Emmanuel / Eryk Martin, BCICS Research Team