Worker Cooperatives Building Better Together (free conference online)

The Canadian Worker Co-operative Federation (CWCF) is hosting their 2021 virtual, bilingual conference from November 16 – 18, 2021.

Worker cooperatives have demonstrated resilience and solidarity throughout the Covid19 pandemic, although many have faced significant challenges.  We will share particular strategies of worker co-ops in dealing with crises such as the pandemic. Further, this theme will cover how communities would benefit from building more worker cooperatives, including through the lens of racial and economic justice.

As always, there will be sessions on topics of practical interest for worker co-operators, including a keynote panel on the challenges and opportunities co-ops are facing, a peer learning session, workshops on co-op financing and marketing, and a presentation on Building on Anti-Racism in Worker Co-ops, organized by CWCF’s Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (“JEDI”) Committee. CoopZone will host a session on Co-op Conversions as part of the Conference, and the Freedom Dreams Education Co-op will host a webinar on Nourishing Belonging: Forging Co-operation in Food and Farming which CWCF is also promoting.

CWCF will also hold its AGM on November 17th.

During our AGM session we will present the CWCF Mark Goldblatt Merit Award to Eric Tusz-King which is given to “an individual who has made exemplary contributions to the worker co-op movement in Canada.”

As this Conference is a free, virtual event and will feature simultaneous English-French interpretation, we encourage anyone with an interest in Canada’s worker co-op movement to participate. More information, including the complete program and registration link, is available here.

The conference sponsors include: The Co-operators, Sisters of St. Martha, Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada, Just Us Coffee Roasters, and the Ontario Co-op Association.

[Text and image from event website]