2025 Strategic Area Updates
During the May 15 Annual General Meeting, Jennifer Ross, Executive Director, shared some exciting, new strategic updates with the membership!
Co-op Advocacy
Earlier this year, we met with both FSRA and the Ministry of Public & Business Service Delivery and Procurement to build our relationships and discuss how their oversight of our co-operative rules and regulations can adapt to changing times - whether that’s raising offering statement limits or modernizing how co-ops interact with the government. Both FSRA and the ministry agreed to ongoing meetings.
We are also working on rebuilding our Co-op Caucus by engaging with interested MPPs and building a comprehensive email list of contacts. Last month, we asked you to let us know if you would like your MPP contacted and have a great list to start with. Anyone who would like us to reach out to their MPP can still add their name to the list anytime, using the short form on our website’s Advocacy page.
Principle 6
To promote P6: Co-operation Among Co-operatives, and in celebration of the International Year of Co-operatives (IYC), we committed to two in-person events - the first being the May 15 Networking Reception. The other event will take place on October 24th in Mississauga. The theme of this event will be a Co-operative Success Roundtable: Focusing on Strategies for Growth & Engagement, where we will explore important issues that impact our sector. From capital raising and legislative flexibility, to effective co-operative engagement. This facilitated roundtable event is an opportunity to gain practical tools and contribute to actionable steps to help drive co-operative success in Ontario. We will be opening registration for this in-person event on June 16, and we would love to see some of our members share their voice at the table!
We will also be hosting the Co-operative Spirit Awards at this event in the early evening of Friday October 24th. Hosting the Spirit Awards during IYC feels extra special and provides us a great opportunity to celebrate those individuals or organizations doing amazing things in our sector. Online Applications will be open in June until the end of August. If you know of someone deserving of recognition, or would even like to self nominate, please make sure you get your application in - and share this opportunity with your networks as well!
Co-operative Education
We are developing a “Business in Agriculture” module with AgScape, a well-established education non-profit in Ontario, allowing us to deliver co-operative education to even more students. We are aiming for this program offering for teachers to be available in October this year.
We are also working hard to grow and modernize the Co-operative Young Leaders (CYL) program to reach more youth across Ontario, with the introduction of a week of camp at Lake St. George in Richmond Hill, as well as three weeks at Gay Lea’s Co-operative Education Centre near Aylmer. There are still opportunities to sponsor or to send a youth in your community to camp!
On May 8th, we launched the national Co-op Camp Challenge in partnership with many of the other provincial co-op associations across Canada to raise funds and awareness for co-operative camps like CYL. There are ways for your organization to get involved in the challenge, matching donations, or just spreading awareness to your communities. Every dollar donated will support sending youth to camp!
​
We will be adding our brand-new series, Board Member Basics training, to our monthly webinar series starting in June. Geared towards new and aspiring co-operative directors, this two-part workshop will provide essential training and motivation to engage young and diverse directors in the governance of your organizations. You do not need prior experience or knowledge of governance to join, and enrollment is open now for our June 10 & 24 workshops. If you know of any inspiring directors out there, please encourage them to sign up - this is a FREE program for our members!
​
We’re also developing a new Small and Medium Co-op Toolkit - a combination of documents, resources, and support for our small and medium sized organizations to help them better engage with their members and follow best practices. This toolkit will also include an online course - shareable with your members - designed to help them understand the unique nature of co-operatives, their rights and responsibilities, and the fundamentals of co-operative governance.