Co-op Facts & Figures
How many co-operatives are there?
· 1,263 co-operatives in Saskatchewan, as of December 31, 2009
· 64 credit unions serving 310 communities
· 9,500 co-operatives in Canada
· 750,000 co-operatives in the world
How many members do co-ops have?
· Hundreds of thousands of members in Saskatchewan, over 1 million memberships, for example:
· There are more than 344,000 active members of at least one retail co-op in Saskatchewan
· Credit Union Members in Saskatchewan 525,000
· In Canada, four of every ten Canadians, or 17,000,000 people, are members of at least one co-operative. In Quebec, approximately 70% of the population are co-op members, while in Saskatchewan 56% are members.
· Canada has the highest per-capita credit union membership in the world: 33 per cent of Canadians are a member of at least one credit union.
· There are more than 730,000,000 million members of co-operatives around the world
How many people do co-operatives employ?
· Co-operatives in Saskatchewan employ over 10,000 people
· In Canada, co-operatives and credit unions employ over 155,000 people. The Desjardins movement (savings and credit co-operatives) is the largest employer in the province of Québec.
· Co-operatives provide over 100 million jobs around the world, 20% more than multinational enterprises.
Co-operative Firsts...
· 1895- a group of dairy farmers in the settlement of Saltcoats formed the Province’s first co-operative butter creamery, which was officially incorporated in 1897.
· 1910 - The Jewish Colonization Association established the first Credit Union in Western Canada in Wapella, Saskatchewan.
· 1935 – Canada’s first and only Consumers’ Co-operative Refinery, owned by Saskatchewan Federated Co-operatives Ltd., is established in Regina
· 1977 - Sherwood Credit Union in Regina introduced the world’s first Automated Teller Machine (ATM)
· 1985 The first true debit card was piloted in the Swift Current area and involved the installation of a point-of-sale system at 28 Pioneer Co-op outlets
· The first co-operative business in North America, a consumer’s co-op store, was established by immigrant coal miners in Nova Scotia.
Other Co-operative Facts and Statistics
· Research has shown that co-operatives are resilient and have a stronger rate of start up success over other forms of business.
· Co-ops in Canada are led by 100,000 volunteer directors and committee members
· The Saskatchewan Business Magazine's listing of the province's top 100 companies ranked FCL number two in 2009.
· SaskCentral ranked 6th on the list of Best Workplaces in Canada (2008).
· Mountain Equipment Co-op is the largest retail co-operative in Canada
