The Rise of Co-operation in Canada - Letter

Review:Hassall:History Chronologically Arranged (J.R.)

The Rise of Co-operation in Canada - Letter written by Humfrey Michell

Domestic Discontent - letter

From The Canadian Forum, December 1920, p. 90, with response by Charles Bruce Sissons.

The Rise of Co-operation in Canada

To the Editor of the Canadian Forum,
Dear Sir: —

The very interesting and important subject of Co-operation in Canada dealt with in the article by Mr. C. B. Sissons in your first number prompts me, as one who has followed the movement carefully for some years, to offer a few observations with regard to the history of its development in the Dominion.

It is a little unfortunate that the author should give the inpression,^(sic!) whether it was his intention to do so or not, that the co-operative movement should have started with the foundation of the Sydney Mines Co-operative Association in 1905. As a matter of fact the first association was formed in 1861 at Stellarton, in Nova Scotia, and to this day the Union Co-operative Association is in existence and prospering. Between that date and 1900 ten co-operative associations were formed in Nova Scotia, one in Quebec and four in Ontario, to say nothing of the numerous little stores started by the Patrons of Husbandry and the Patrons of Industry. Of all these the Stellarton Association is the sole survivor. There are, really, two distinct periods of co-operative activity in Canada, the earlier which had practically died away by the beginning of the present century, and the later which coincides with the founding of the Co-operative Union of Canada, and owes its inception in very large measure if not wholly to the unwearying efforts of Mr. George Keen of Brantford.

The fact is, and we must face the situation frankly, the co-operative system, generally named after the famous Rochdale example, is not altogether suited to the native Canadian genius, and finds its support almost entirely in English immigrants who brought their faith with them from the old land. It is an interesting reflection that every country works out its own phase of co-operative effort. The Englishman and the Scot excel in the co-operative retail association, the German in the co-operative credit association, and the Canadian and American in the farmer's co-operative elevator and selling association. It is very questionable if the Rochdale system is suited to the Canadian temperament; the wrecks of little co-operative societies which strew the Dominion from coast to coast seem to suggest unmistakably that it is not. The Canadian must advance along the lines best suited to his genius, and the notable success of the farmers' associations indicates that in them lies the distinctively Canadian and American contribution to the principles of co-operation.

It is also very doubtful indeed if the co-operative lending societies inaugurated by M. Alphonse Desjardines^(sic!) have any great future outside the Province of Quebec or the French speaking districts of Ontario. Their spirit is eminently suited to the French-Canadian temperament, and as Mr. Sissons very truly says, they are doing most admirable work in the Province of Quebec.

I do not wish to appear pessimistic or to disparage the self-sacrificing efforts of such notable co-operators as Mr. John Mitchell of Stellarton, Mr. Carter of Guelph or of my very respected friends Mr. Keen of Brantford and M. Desjardins. But we must be careful not to force a movement which is by its nature unsuited to Canadian conditions in general. Many of the little societies have done most excellent work, and are still doing it. Several of the Nova Scotian associations were in business for many years and were a great boon to their members, as are their successors to the present day.

In conclusion permit me to make two slight corrections. M. Desjardins founded his first Caisse Populaire at Levis in 1900, not in 1890 as the article states. The largest store in Canada at the present time in not that at Sydney Mines but the Workmen's Co-operative Association at Nanaimo, B.C. I may perhaps usefully add that the early history of the Co-operative movement in Canada is to be found outlined briefly in Bulletin 18 of the Department of Political and Economic Science of Queen's University.

Yours truly,

H. Michell.

McMaster University,

Toronto.

[While appreciating the criticism of Mr. Michell, a recognized authority on co-operation, I am still unrepentant.

There was really nothing in my article to suggest that I regarded the co-operation movement in Canada as having commenced with the foundation of the Sydney Mines Association. The plan, as definitely stated, was to give a "fair idea of the spread of the movement by three sketches of different co-operative societies". Sydney Mines afforded an example of co-operation applied successfully to retail business; the Levis bank served to illustrate successful co-operative banking, while the Brant Farmers' Society was one of a considerable number of prosperous co-operative organizations buying farm supplies and selling farm produce. I might have given a detailed historical account of the early struggles and frequent failures of co-operative enterprises, replete with dates and [p.91] figures, but chose not to do so. Too often our generation asks for bread and receives statistics.

Mr. Michell warns against forcing the movement. No one will dispute the wisdom of a policy of caution. But he goes further, and expresses grave doubts as to whether the Rochdale system is suited to the Canadian temperament. Later he uses a safer phrase when he speaks of the movement as "by nature unsuited to Canadian conditions in general". I hesitate to quarrel with Mr Michell so long as he keeps to economics, but when he digresses into psychology and speaks of temperaments in general and a specific Canadian temperament I will not walk with him. The explanation of past failures, I submit, must be sought not in the mysterious realm of temperament but in such patent conditions as a heterogenous and constantly shifting population in our urban centres and the fact that in a new country people are allured by speculative profits and overlook small savings. Or to quote from Mr. Michell's article on the People's Banks in the Province of Quebec appearing in 1914 in the Economic Review "perhaps men were too busy each trying to gain his own ends as quickly as possible". However, nothing is more characteristic of the pioneer life of this country than neighborliness, and co-operation is merely organized community spirit.

I thank Mr. Michell for calling attention to an error of date. It was in December 1900 that M. Desjardins organized the first People's Bank. Earlier in my article it was stated that this was twenty years ago. M. Desjardins lived to see his experiment a great success, and died twenty years, less a month, after it was launched. Statistics published by the Co-operative Union places the sales of the Sydney Mines Society for the Year 1919 at $1,011,007.87, and those of the Workman's Co-operative Association of Nanaimo at $62,823.48.

C. B. Sissons.]