Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jun 21/99) - A trio of co-operative organizations will fund a new project designed to promote co-operative ventures in Arctic communities, it was revealed last week.

The Co-operative Development Foundation, a charitable organization supported by Canada's co-operatives and credit unions, Arctic Co-operatives Ltd. and the Arctic Co-operative Development Fund will aim $149,000 at the project, known as the Co-operative Education and Technical Assistance Project.

The goal of the project is to give Arctic communities which are looking for support and assistance in starting co-operative ventures a better chance of success.

Arctic Co-operatives and Arctic Development Fund will each invest $62,000 in the project.

The Co-operative Development Foundation will aim all of its 1999 domestic development budget -- $25,000 -- at the project.

The initiative was announced on June 10 at the annual meeting of the Canadian Co-operative Association in Iqaluit.

"The co-operative movement is thriving in the arctic," Co-operative Development Foundation president Jim Barr said.

"Yet the challenges posed by distance and isolation have limited the opportunities for communities to effectively use the co-op model. CDF is delighted to help change that," he said.

In the first stage of the project, education materials developed for Northern co-ops in the early-1980s will be updated, revised and transferred to electronic format.

The final printed versions will support training for all co-ops, from basic start-up procedures to director and staff development.

Since the co-op model was first introduced to the Canadian Arctic in the late-1950s, it has proved a valuable tool for many Aboriginal communities. The co-op movement has assisted with community empowerment and with building leadership and management skills at the local level, according to the Co-operative Development Foundation of Canada.

Services provided by the 40 Arctic co-ops include retail grocery, general merchandise, trucking, petroleum delivery, airline and postal agencies, residential and commercial property rentals, cable television and hotels.

Through the Arctic Co-operatives Ltd. and the Arctic Co-operative Development Fund, co-ops are helping shape the North's telecommunications industry as well by delivering tele-medicine, distance education and access to the Internet. They also own and control the 21-hotel Inns North chain.

The Canadian Co-operative Association is the national trade and development organization of the Canadian anglophone co-operative and credit union sector. The association provides its 35- member organizations and regional affiliates with government relations, policy development and other support services.

The Co-operative Development Foundation, set up in 1947, is a national-registered charity belonging to co-ops and credit unions across Canada. It works with the association to develop co-ops and credit unions in 24 countries.