INNISFAIL – Local citizens wanting to learn innovative ways to advance economic development in the community had a chance last week to find out more about the resurgent fortunes of co-operatives.
On March 13, Innisfail Community Economic Development (CED), as part of its Power of Place strategy, hosted its second speaker luncheon from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Innisfail Library/Learning Centre.
Last Oct. 18, the CED and the Town of Innisfail featured speakers Todd Hirsch, director of the Energy Transition Centre and a former bank vice-president and economist, and Justin Riemer, chief executive officer of Emissions Reduction Alberta.
The pair talked about economic outlooks and trends in the economy and in business.
The March 13 event had a different focus.
The CED brought in a pair of accomplished out-of-town co-op experts; Kyle White, director of education at Saskatoon-based Co-operatives First and Dan Ohler, a founding member of Sangudo Opportunity Development Co-op.
Both White and Ohler shared their knowledge and experience on co-operatives and the beneficial impact they can have on communities, including small to medium-sized communities.
“Co-operatives are identified as a way community members can support economic development, as opposed to everything being either government-led or business-led. It is a way of bringing people together to push the community forward,” said Meghan Jenkins, the town’s director of community services who organized the event. “I had an opportunity to hear them speak at a rural sustainable development event in Camrose and was captivated by their presentations.”
Jenkins noted Innisfail has a number of co-operatives, including Central Alberta Co-op, EQUS, Servus Credit Union, UFA, Innisfail Municipal Seed Cleaning Plant Ltd. and Central Cattle Breeders Co-op.
While there are good choices for banking, agriculture and goods and services there is none targeting housing, which elsewhere is a growing area for co-operatives, and one that could help fill a gap in Innisfail’s urgent need for more housing options.
“Absolutely it’s an option that we could explore,” said Town of Innisfail Mayor Jean Barclay who attended the event.
Ohler said his co-op has built one home in his community and is now looking at doing more multifamily-type housing. He calls it a “beautiful model” as it engages local people to create needed housing.
“Rather than expecting a contractor to come in and build the homes, or a developer, and then sell them, local people can pull the capital together and hire local people to do the work as well,” said Ohler. I think it's a beautiful model to make this happen.”
Jenkins said the event’s goal was to “spark interest” with people to come up with ideas that could create innovative solutions to establish new co-operatives for childcare, housing or homecare enterprises.
“I think it's a good a way to bring that awareness in the community that people can work together and solve some of the challenges that they see,” said Jenkins.
White told his audience on March 13 there has been an “uptick” in the interest for co-operatives since the mid-2010s, noting there was a 30-year low since the 1980s.
“But then more recently we see that uptick. We see organizations like Federated Co-operatives making a concerted effort to amplify that message about how we can use an age-old model to solve the problems we need solving today,” said White, whose company was established in 2016 to offer co-op education and professional development, along with providing start-up supports.
“We do a lot of outreach with community leaders, economic developers, and other service providers to say, ‘you know, this is an option that fits a whole bunch of models.
“It's not just gas and grocery. It's not just your credit union insurance,” he told the Albertan. “We can use it to solve affordable housing, child care, access to goods, procurement, transportation, all the things that a lot of smaller towns are facing.
“We can use this model and use the existing resources we have to solve those problems.”
Housing options are arguably Innisfail’s most urgent need in 2024.
White said there are a “couple of ways” a community can approach “housing with co-operative solutions” depending on the type of problem that needs to be addressed.
“Most smaller towns have availability problems, and don't have the houses to house anybody, and they can’t grow, and then some of them, even the size of Innisfail, affordability can be a problem,” said White. “Form has to follow function, the kind of solution you put into place should come from the problem that you've got.
There's a lot of folks who want to downsize and move into something more like an apartment as they don't need a four-bedroom house because they're 70,” he said. “There's a good model in there for either home ownership co-op, or a non-profit housing co-op geared for seniors. We have a lot of those in Saskatchewan.
“It's a great model, because it allows people to age in place more comfortably and frees up 20, 30, 40 homes for people who want to have kids and families and want to move to the community.”
Jenkins said the next speaker event for the CED will be held the coming fall as goal is to have two events a year.
