News & events
At the Centre for Co-operative and Community-Based Economy, there's always something exciting happening. Whether it's a guest speaker, a lunch-time discussion, or new a research project, we strive to connect the university with the greater community.
Recent news
- Five Month Internship - May to September 2013
The BC-Alberta Social Economy Research Alliance (BALTA) is seeking an intern to work with Scaling Innovation for Sustainability Project. We are seeking someone who is interested in developing their skills and experience towards a longer term career in community development and/or research, and who is currently unemployed or under-employed. Applicants must be 30 years of age or younger at the time of hiring, have a post-secondary degree or diploma and be out of school. This internship is part of the Canadian CED Network's CreateAction Work Experience Program, which is funded by Service Canada. The application deadline is Friday, April 26th.
Click here for details.
- Singing A New Song: Creating a Renewed Relationship with First Nations
Sponsored by the Parish of St. John the Divine, Victoria B.C. April 26-27, 2013
Thanks to the Idle No More movement, Canada’s troubled relationship with its First Nations’ peoples has exploded into the headlines once more. Charges and countercharges have been made and tempers triggered on both sides.
But is this development simply déjà vu? When the current headlines fade, will any real progress have been made or a lasting solution found?
Perhaps. But only if all are willing to acknowledge the past—the good and the bad—and use it to build a lasting new relationship within Canada.
That is the theme and purpose of a unique public conference to be held April 26-27 and hosted by the Church of St. John the Divine, 1611 Quadra St., Victoria.Singing A New Song: Creating a Renewed Relationship with First Nations will feature five of the leading experts and spokespersons on Aboriginal issues in Canada. This is unique opportunity for all concerned members of the Victoria community to participate in a realistic and equitable relationship-building event with First Nations people.
Leading off the conference will be John Borrows. Prof. Borrows is widely recognized both in Canada and elsewhere for his prodigious and insightful studies and published works on Aboriginal legal rights and traditions. His work has been quoted by the Supreme Court of Canada in its rulings on Aboriginal cases. He has also served as a consultant on Indigenous issues in other countries. Currently he holds the Robina Chair in Law, Public Policy and Society at the University of Minnesota.
Prof. Borrows will set the historical context and vision for the conference and describe how the relationship between First Nations and Canada could be repaired and strengthened.
On Saturday, April 27, the keynote speaker will be Robert Morales. A distinguished lawyer, negotiator and consultant, Mr. Morales is Chief Negotiator for the Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group in its petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. (The HTG is comprised of six First Nations on Vancouver Island. Its head offices are in Ladysmith, B.C.) He is also Chair of the Summit Chief Negotiators Forum, composed of approximately 47 negotiating tables set up to deal with Aboriginal treaty rights in B.C.
Mr. Morales will address the conference on the rationale and process of using international human rights law to address gaps in Canadian law and legislative practice when it comes to Aboriginal land claims and other treaty issues. He will also suggest how it could provide a just solution to this historical problem.
Also on Saturday, two prominent experts from the University of Victoria will conduct a panel discussion and present ways of restoring and rebuilding First Nations’ economies, housing, and for recovering traditional legal and governance structures.
Val Napoleon, Law Foundation Professor of Aboriginal Justice and Governance, is the UVic Governor General’s Gold Medal winner for her 2009 dissertation on Gitskan law and legal theory.
Ana Maria Peredo is the Director of the Centre for Co-operative and Community-Based Economy and Professor of Sustainable Entrepreneurship and International Business at UVic’s Peter B. Gustavson School of Business. Her focus is on developing and implementing sustainable economic models for Indigenous and underdeveloped communities.
Other distinguished participants include Glen Coulthard, Assistant Professor of Indigenous Studies and Political Science at University of British Columbia, and Heidi Kiiwetinepinesik Stark, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Victoria.
The conference opens at 7:30pm Friday, April 26 and concludes at 3:30pm Saturday, April 27. Tickets are $15 and include lunch on Saturday. Call St. John the Divine office at (250) 383-7169.Conference Program
- April 30th Panel - What is NOT being discussed in the BC elections that should be!
A special alumni event sponsored by the Political Science department and open to the university community and the public will take place on April 30th, 2013 at 7pm on the first floor of the Social Sciences and Math building at UVic.
The topic is “What is NOT being discussed in the BC elections that should be!” It is deliberately intended to take us out of the conventional elections coverage and into some deeper themes. Each panellist will have 10 minutes to speak on an under-examined topic of his or her choice, with significant time afterwards for discussion between the panellists and for questions from the audience.
The timing is good: the day after the planned provincial leaders’ debate.) Our four panellists (Mr. George Abbott, Ms Adriane Carr, Dr. Shane Gunster, and Dr. Dennis Pilon) are either close to the BC political process or they are keen observers, but they are not directly campaigning in the BC elections this year. Three of our guests have known connections to the Political Science department as alumni or former professors, and three are coming to us from out of town. All promise to bring us something unique to think about for our election preparations.
After the event winds up at about 8:30, there will be a short reception in the SSM building rotunda.
Please note that the event is open to alumni and the public, but prior registration is requested for venue and refreshment planning. Please RSVP to poliao@uvic.ca.
- Dr. Ana María Peredo: Honoured with the Victoria Community Leadership Award
Dr. Ana María Peredo, CCCBE Director and Professor at Gustavson School of Business, has been awarded the 2013 University of Victoria Community Leadership Award. This nomination recognizes Dr. Peredo’s exemplary leadership in linking the University and the community. Through her teaching, her research and her leadership Dr. Peredo has created opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students, to help community organizations. She works tirelessly to bring people from different disciplines, sectors and communities together to share wisdom and knowledge. The Victoria Leadership Awards ceremony were held on February 25th. Congratulations on this well deserved award Ana Maria!
- Solidarity, Resilience and Reclaiming the Commons event
Solidarity, Resilience and Re-claiming the Commons, Monday, March 11th, 4:00-6:00pm at UVic in Cadboro Commons Arbutus/Queenswood room.
Mike Lewis is co-author of the Resilience Imperative: co-operative transitions to a steady state economy. Join him for a presentation and discussion of proven innovations in food, shelter and finance that are offering pathways for strengthening community resilience, ownership and co-operation in the CRD and elsewhere.
There’s growing local interest in land trusts as a way to tackle housing costs and reshape our communities. Read Affordable housing for everyone by Rob Wipond.
Resilience Imperative: co-operative transitions to a steady state economy is available online or purchase a copy at this event.
- "Building an Innovative Nation" event
Howard Brunt, Vice-President Research and Carmen Charette, Vice-President External Relationsare are pleased to invite you to attend the following event on Friday, March 8 2013 at 3:30PM:
BUILDING AN INNOVATIVE NATION:
The role of universities in strengthening Canada’s futureWhat makes a nation truly innovative? This forum explores the state of and opportunities for breaking new ground in Canadian innovation with a panel discussion and audience Q+A on this timely and multi-faceted subject.
- Victoria Community Health Cooperative 2013 Co-op Day in Victoria
Co-op Day in Victoria is hosted by the Victoria Community Health Co-operative with support from the CCCBE and many local co-op organizations on Saturday, February 23rd at Fairfield United Church 1303 Fairfield Road from 11:00am to 2:00pm. Dr. Ian MacPherson is the featured speaker and will present “ Peace, Co-operation and Sustainability.”
- 2013 Ian MacPherson Graduate Student Scholarship Recipients
Richard Tuck and Sarah Easter, both PhD candidates from the Gustavson School of Business are the recipients of the 2013 CCCBE Ian MacPherson Graduate Student Scholarships.
Each year, Dr. Ian MacPherson Scholarship is awarded to one or more outstanding graduate students with an interest in co-operative studies and community-based economy.
- 2013 CASC scholarship competition launched
The Canadian Co-operative Association (CCA), on behalf of the Canadian Association for Studies in Co-operation (CASC), has launched the 2013 CASC scholarship competition. The scholarships are aimed at supporting and promoting research on co-operatives by university students.
Applicants must be pursuing research specifically related to co-operatives (including credit unions), and must include a description of their research project as part of their application.
The deadline for submitting applications is March 31, 2013.
- Announcement for Peace and Social Inclusion Initiative
We are delighted to announce that Dr. Ian MacPherson, founder and our former Director (BC Institute for Co-operative Studies) has joined us to lead a new initiative for Peace and Social Inclusion. This initiative is hosted and supported by the Centre for Co-operative and Community Based Economy (CCCBE), and is working in association with the Centre for Global Studies as well.
- Call for Papers – Canadian Association for Studies in Cooperation (CASC)
CASC Call for Papers Extended to January 25, 2013.
Canadian Association for Studies in Cooperation (CASC)Call for Papers. Abstracts and proposals for panels and roundtables are due on January 11th, 2013.
- Call for Papers – Association for Nonprofit and Social Economy Research (ANSER)
ANSER Call for Papers Extended to January 21, 2013.
ANSER/ARES is a dynamic growing association that is organizing its sixth annual conference as part of the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. ANSER brings together leading academic researchers, practitioners, consultants, policymakers and community organizations from Canada and internationally to discuss current and emergent issues, debates and challenges in the fields of civil society, social economy, and nonprofit research and practice. Join us for what promises to be an engaging and provocative conference. The theme for the sixth conference in Victoria is: Nonprofits and the Social Economy @the Edge.
The conference is an opportunity to welcome and explore new voices and perspectives, including those who are far from centres of power and influence due to economic, health, geography and other factors, and indigenous peoples whose languages and cultures are endangered. It is a call for the social sciences and humanities to explore these issues of inclusivity, marginalization and diversity and suggest innovative solutions and models for response. Within this context, nonprofits and other social economy organizations are well poised to lead these discussions.
We invite you to submit proposals for individual papers, panels, or roundtable discussions on topics related to nonprofits, co-operatives, social enterprises, community economic development, and the social economy in Canadian, comparative, or international contexts. Proposals are particularly encouraged that fit into any of the following areas, broadly defined:
• Nonprofits and the Social Economy @the Edge
• Co-operatives: Reflections on the Year of the Co-operative
• Nonprofits in a Time of Cutbacks
• Social Enterprises, Social Entrepreneurship, & Social Innovation
• Community Economic Development & Community Organizing
• Volunteering & Citizen Engagement
• Collaborations, Partnerships & Mergers
• Communication, Networking & Social Media
• Finance
• Governance & Management
• Research Methodologies & Community-University Research Partnerships
• Public Policy & Government Relations
• Theoretical Perspectives
We also accept proposals of wider relevance, which may not fit the categories listed above. We are particularly interested in papers, panels and roundtables involving collaboration between academics and practitioners.
Proposal abstracts, in either official language, must be submitted online by January 11, 2013, at: https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=anser2013 or by email to anserconference@gmail.com A link to the online system is also available on our Website at www.anser-ares.ca You need to create an Easy Chair account. After following the submission link, you will be directed to Easy Chair (EC) website. The link for creating an account is provided on EC website (look for "If you do not have an EasyChair account or have problems to log in then click here").All proposals will be subject to peer review and notification of acceptance will be provided by February 15, 2013.
- Call for Papers – Special Issue of Organization
Worker Cooperatives as an Organizational Alternative: Challenges, Achievements and Promise in Organizational Governance and Ownership
Coordinators
- Iñaki Santa Cruz, Faculty of Economics and Business Studies. Autonomous University of Barcelona. (Spain)
- Elías Nazareno, Faculty of History. Universidade Federal de Goiás. (Brazil)
- George Cheney, School of Communication Studies, Associate Investigator, Ohio Employee Ownership Center, Kent State University (United States)
- Ana Maria Peredo, Gustavson School of Business, Centre for Co-operative and Community Based Economy and University of Victoria (Canada)
The current financial crisis has revealed structural problems as well as perturbations in the global financial and market systems. Within the context of crisis, there is great interest in experimentation with alternative organizational forms that can both respond to the challenges of today’s economy and restore equilibrium through a renewed emphasis on social values. In particular, worker ownership and governance are gaining attention in a variety of forms and regions. Worker-owned-and-governed cooperatives typically pursue both economic viability and strong forms of participation; further, they are closely tied to community economic and social development. Seeing these multiple objectives as intertwined and in fact necessary is central to the call for the 2012 United Nations’ International Year of the Cooperative, which seeks to highlight the contribution of cooperatives to social and economic development through generating employment, reducing poverty, and fostering social integration.
Perhaps the most famous contemporary case of worker cooperative organization that achieves the multiple goals described above is the Mondragon Cooperative Group (MCG), one of the largest, long-lived, and successful examples of workers’ owned organizations in the entire world. Mondragon has a remarkable record of financial success and the provision of sound and stable labour conditions. Founded in 1956, the Basque cooperatives now employ almost 100,000 members, are represented in more than a dozen countries, and are the focus of ongoing scrutiny, praise, and critique. While the well-known wage differential has grown somewhat over the years within the system, it remains quite narrow by almost any comparison, even when a number of top-level salaries that are pegged to the market are taken into account. Amidst the current economic downturn that began in 2007 that has resulted in over 20% unemployment in Spain and approximately half that in the Basque Country, the Mondragon co-ops have relied on their historic principles of democracy, equality, solidarity, and participation as fundamental parts of their management strategy. While 24% of Spanish companies have closed down during this recession, the MCG only had to close down one of the 120 cooperatives that form the group, and relocate the 35 workers into other companies. In fact, there is significant evidence of increased democratization in the FAGOR Group, the original industrial cooperatives and the heart of the system. For all these reasons, now is an important moment for attention to the distinctive characteristics of these cooperatives as well as their lessons for other socially inspired management, organizational, and market models. The MCG represents but one case; however, given its rich history, diverse characteristics, encounters with globalization, and experimentation in new forms of participation now underway, it provides an extremely important point of reference in any comprehensive or forward-looking examination of worker cooperatives today.
This call for papers is open to research contributions and critical-theoretical analyses of alternative organizations and especially worker cooperatives. We are especially interested in nuanced assessments of the methodological, philosophical, socio-political and organizational principles and challenges of workers cooperatives within the broader context of so-called alternative organizations. This means that sound empirical and interpretive investigations in the pursuit of important critical questions are encouraged. Such assessments may include attention to the activities, performance, and extensions of this kind of alternative organizations. We welcome multidisciplinary contributions and those that take on different perspectives that seek to bridge case-level detail with broader socio-economic trends. In addition, papers presenting theoretical reflections and analyses of specific worker owned cooperatives worldwide (such as Mondragon) should manifest a comparative perspective even if they do not fully examine each of two or multiple cases. Analyses that seek to apply recent developments in democratic theory and in alternative economics are certainly appropriate. Overall, the set of papers in the special issue will illuminate the complexities and changes in worker cooperatives, as they weather an extremely challenging period yet one ripe with opportunity.
The special issue will reflect the international scope of Organization, advancing its mission as an open, reflective, imaginative, and critical journal about what is happening worldwide that contributes to these reflections. Further, we aim to help to expand the field of organization studies by interrogating the diversity and comparative viability and authenticity of organizational forms and practices, including those grounded in deep forms of democracy and solidarity. By closely examining cooperative organizations, and comparing them with other forms of worker ownership and governance, the special issue will encourage further exploration of diverse forms of organization, managerial practice, and the social economy from all around the globe, widening research on the Mondragon Cooperative Experience (MCE) and other significant examples. Therefore, the call welcomes international collaborations, be they ongoing or ad hoc.
Examples of key themes for investigation allowing for further international comparisons include:
1. The organizational resources, structures, and dynamics allowing for social as well as economic resilience in worker cooperatives;
2. The changing roles of leadership in worker cooperatives: considering for example the interplay of various forms of leadership from charismatic to collaborative or group-based;
3. The capacity of and obstacles to the reinvention of democracy within cooperatives, including means to manage and solve conflicts between different goals, sectors, and constituencies (for example, concerning the relationship between worker-member-owners and temporary workers);
4. The relationships between cooperatives and organized labour, the state, the community, and the larger financial system;
5. Maintaining cooperative values while facing crises of participation, identity, and shared ownership and decision making within a system undergoing international expansion.
Papers should be no more than 8,000 words, excluding references, and will be blind reviewed following the journal’s standard procedures. Manuscripts should be prepared according to the guidelines published in Organization and on the journal's website
For further information, please contact one of the guest editors:
Iñaki Santa Cruz inaki.santacruz@uab.cat
Elias Nazareno eliasna@hotmail.com
George Cheney gcheney@kent.edu
Ana Maria Peredo aperedo@uvic.ca
- Tamara Vrooman honored with UVic 50th Anniversary Award
The University of Victoria is privileged to honour Tamara Vrooman, Vancity President and CEO as one of five exceptional UVic alumni with a 50th Anniversary Award at A Celebration of 50 Years of Excellence. The award recipients exemplify the rich diversity and tradition of excellence at UVic and embody our vision to be engaged citizens and leaders contributing to the betterment of our local and global communities.
As the chief executive officer of Canada's largest credit union, Tamara Vrooman is responsible for ensuring Vancity fulfills its vision of redefining wealth for members and communities.
Tamara recently presented Changing the game: Vancity's journey to redefine wealth in the CCCBE Speaker Series. The podcast is now available. - Best Paper on International Business Award
Nick Montgomery (PhD student in Political Science) and Dr. Ana Maria Peredo presented their paper co-authored with Eleanor Carlson (Anthropology and former CCCBE graduate student fellow), "The BOP Discourse as Capitalist Hegemony" at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management in Boston, August 2012. The paper was chosen as the Best Paper on International Business and was nominated for the Carolyn Dexter Award. This paper draws on theories from postcolonialism, feminism, and post-structuralism, the paper argues that the increasingly popular "Bottom of the Pyramid" paradigm obscures non-capitalist alternatives and resistance to capitalism. Sincere thanks to Emmalee Brunt for her excellent work on the literature review for this award winning paper.
Congratulations on this award!
- The Resilience Imperative by Mike Lewis and Pat Conaty
With so many books being written about peak oil, climate change, and their implications for our people and planet, what’s different about The Resilience Imperative? Its central thesis is that climate change and escalating energy prices compel us to reinvent our economic life on a much more local and regional basis. But how to do it? This is the vexing question. How do we forge a steady-state economy that is socially, ecologically and economically sensible and sustainable? Is it even possible, or just the naive notion of do-gooders?
The Resilience Imperative resonates with the possible! Using a range of theory and incisive historical and contemporary analysis for a launchpad, it presents case after case of creative, strategic action in the world of today. These strategic pathways demonstrate how people in Asia, Europe and North America are learning to meet basic needs for food, land, housing, energy, and finance more locally and regionally. Their example shows how we too might navigate transition and strengthen resilience where we live. Powerfully, the authors bring these innovations back down to earth by revealing the implications, in dollars and cents, for the cost of living of the average household.
Order a copy. View Tyee interview with Mike Lewis.
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