Finding Our Starting Points
The Challenge That Won’t Go Away
Every year, the Canadian Centre for the Study of
Co-operatives surveys leaders across the country to identify the top issues shaping our sector. For seven years in a row, the number one challenge has remained the same: awareness.
Too often, co-ops are seen as “just another option” in the marketplace—without recognition of what makes us different. As the 2024 Top Co-op Issues Survey Report highlights, this lack of awareness ripples through nearly every other challenge we face: access to financing, supportive policy, co-op development, and even our ability to attract new members.
Co-ops are purpose-driven, values-led, and future-focused—a model young Canadians deserve to discover.
Why Co-op Awareness Matters
For me, this annual list is not just a list of obstacles. It’s a guidepost. It reminds me that if we’re serious about building the next generation of co-ops, strong, resilient, and relevant, we must keep asking: Where do we start?
“If we’re serious about building the next generation of
co-ops, strong, resilient, and relevant, we must keep asking: Where do we start?”
From Challenge to Call to Action
Sparked by a challenge from someone whose words mattered, carried through a walk in Edmonton’s river valley, it grew into a concept I believed was worth pursuing.
That’s where the idea for the Business Not as Usual campaign came from. Inspired by bold campaigns like Movember and Got Milk, we needed a fresh way to tell the co-op story - one that sparks conversation, sticks in people’s minds, and makes it impossible to see co-ops as “just another option.” Co-ops are not only an alternative to traditional business models; they are a values-led, purpose-driven way of building a stronger future.
Creating Space for New Conversations
This fall, Business Not as Usual is launching across Canada, during Co-op Week 2025. Through it, we’re connecting co-ops to changemakers nationwide. Because, as the report points out, young people care deeply about aligning their work and spending with their values. Co-ops are a natural fit, offering community-owned solutions to today’s challenges… if only they knew about them.
Building Together
On behalf of Alberta Co-op Association (ACCA), I am grateful to our sponsors Albera Co-operative Energy, and Federated Co-ops Limited (aka Co-op ) and project partners BC Co-op Association (BCCA), Saskatchewan Co-op Association (SCA), Manitoba Co-op Association (MCA), Newfoundland & Labadour Federation of Co-ops (NFLC) and Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada (CMC). All who said yes, even without the full picture, because they recognized that this is a conversation worth having with the next generation of changemakers.
I also want to acknowledge the people who helped bring this idea to life. Rebecca McKnight, Project Lead, and Laken Rein, Website Developer, are two young people who were willing to dream, build, and revise through early mornings, late nights, and meetings held everywhere from patios across Canada to Alberta rest stops and coffee shop corners.
Why Co-ops Are Changemakers
At its core, Business Not as Usual is about more than an event or a campaign. It’s about reminding Canadians that co-ops have always been, and continue to be, changemakers.
#CoopsAreChangemakers
Partner Spotlight: Alberta Co-operative Association
This story is shared in collaboration with the Alberta Community & Co-operative Association, where Corinne Remple—Dreamer, Doer, and Executive Director—works to amplify co-op voices across Alberta.
Curious about co-op solutions? Explore our Co-op Resources page for stories, tools, and guides to get started.
