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IQALUIT
As Arctic Co-operatives Limited works to close the deal on the purchase of Arctic Ventures in Iqaluit, about a dozen Iqaluit residents met Oct. 1 to discuss creating a co-operative they hope could someday take over the business.

"The potential here is that the people in this community can get a window on the private sector's distribution of food," said Ed McKenna, director of Nunavut's anti-poverty secretariat, who attended the meeting, saying co-ops can be more open about pricing and expenses. "People need to understand how all of this works and why things cost as much as they do."

ACL is pursuing the Arctic Ventures sale to grab existing market share with a turn-key business, but also to ensure the success of the co-op, when it forms and grows, so it would have to compete only with one, not two, large stores for market share, regional manager Stephane Daigle said.

About 40 people have shown an interest in forming a co-op. Meeting organizers Jonah Kilabuk, Bob Haywood and Robin Campbell, who was not in attendance, invited Daigle and ACL operations specialist John Sims to the meeting to explain the process.

To get serious and buy businesses such as Ventures or the Co-op-branded gas station near Iqaluit airport (run by ACL), the co-op would have to incorporate and sell shares, Daigle said.

"The people of Iqaluit need to show a vested interest and form a member co-operative, and express an interest in converting Arctic Ventures over into their own member co-operative," Sims said.

Geoff Ryan, who was part of previous discussions to build a co-op store, said at that time ACL called on Iqaluit to bring together $1 million in equity. That was then, this is now, and all agreed Arctic Ventures - the business, not the building - is likely worth far more than that."When you look at a business model, you've got to look at it realistically," Ryan said, warning residents not to believe it will be cheap or easy.

The Arctic Ventures deal is set to close Nov. 1, and assuming it goes through, ACL's member co-ops across the North would own the business. That means co-op members in communities other than Iqaluit would profit from the purchases made at the capital's second-largest store. So with hopes for an Iqaluit co-operative takeover of the store, why would ACL and its existing members want to give up Ventures?

"One of the principles of co-operatives is co-operation amongst co-ops," Sims said. "It's not about how much you can get. It's about equality."

"In the perfect business co-op model, the people of Iqaluit would own the Iqaluit co-op," Daigle said, "just like the people of Repulse Bay own the Repulse Bay co-op."

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