Community Powered: Celebrating Canadian Co-operatives
September 17 - December 19, 2025
This fall, please join us for Community Powered: Celebrating Canadian Co-operatives, a new exhibition celebrating the United Nations International Year of Co-operatives 2025.
Community Powered brings Canadian co-operators and museum visitors together to celebrate the United Nations International Year of Co-operatives 2025 theme: Co-operatives Build a Better World. From the prairies' iconic Wheat Pool to Inuit art production and marketing co-ops to financial institutions that serve the banking and insurance needs of millions of Canadians, this exhibition tells the story of co-operation from before Canada's creation to how co-operators are tackling big problems today—and into the future.
The stories bring to life the importance of co-ops in meeting important needs, shaping markets and socio-cultural outcomes, and offering democratic solutions and opportunities—powered by and empowering communities in building a better world.
Co-curated by the Diefenbaker Canada Centre's Helanna Gessner and Raymond Morstad in collaboration with the Canadian Centre for the Study of Co-operatives, this immersive museum exhibition brings to life co-operative principles and values such as equity, self-help, and democratic governance.
Community Powered: Celebrating Canadian Co-operatives is presented by the Diefenbaker Canada Centre in partnership with the Canadian Centre for the Study of Co-operatives, and in collaboration with Canadian Arctic Producers, University of Saskatchewan Library and Archives, Kenderdine Art Gallery/College Art Galleries, and Saskatchewan Co-operative Association. Special thanks to the CCSC’s funders for making this exhibit possible.
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About the Exhibition: Community Powered: Celebrating Canadian Co-operatives will be on display at the Diefenbaker Canada Centre from September 17 to December 19, 2025. The Centre is open to visitors Wednesday through Saturday, from 12:00 to 4:30 pm. Admission is by donation.
Co-op Conversations
The Canadian Centre for the Study of Co-operatives' (CCSC) Co-op Conversations is a monthly online gathering for co-operative sector professionals to learn from others in the field and exchange information in a casual setting. The CCSC believes that the best learning is peer-to-peer, and casual conversations across different organizations are what break old thinking patterns, make new connections, and generate fresh perspectives. Each Co-op Conversation will be held during lunch hours (Saskatchewan time) on the first Wednesday of the month.
The co-operative model in healthcare: successes and challenges of a 60-year-old co-operative featuring Dr. Coralie Darcis
Date: November 5, 2025
Time: 12:00 - 1:00 PM (Saskatchewan time or Central Standard Time)
Location: On Zoom
File: Download Event Poster
Together with her colleagues from the Canadian Centre for the Study of Co-operatives, Dr. Coralie Darcis conducted an in-depth study of a 60-year-old co-operative primary health care clinic in Saskatoon. This presentation will share key findings from that research, offering insights into the clinic’s historical development and its co-operative governance model. It will highlight the clinic’s achievements in delivering accessible, community-centered care, while also addressing the unique challenges faced by health care co-operatives. These include issues related to long-term sustainability, shared governance, and funding mechanisms.
About our SpeakerDr. Coralie Darcis is a sociologist from Belgium whose research focuses on health systems, organizations, and public policy. In September 2023, she relocated to Canada and is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan. Mainly relying on qualitative methods, her current work focuses more specifically on primary care and models of care delivery.
Past talks can be found here: Past Co-op Conversations.
MacPherson Talk
The 10th Annual MacPherson Talk featuring Joseph Heath
Are Co-operatives More Virtuous than Corporations? featuring Dr. Joseph Heath
There are several sectors of the economy in which cooperatives have flourished, competing successfully against standard business corporations. The best explanation for their success is that they provide superior benefits to their members. The question that will be the focus of this talk is whether co-operatives also provide important benefits to society, such that non-members should prefer a co-operative economy to one dominated by business corporations. It has often been suggested that co-operatives are more virtuous, because they are more democratic, less hierarchical, less anti-social, and less apt to produce economic inequality. In this talk, Dr. Joseph Heath will evaluate these claims, while questioning whether co-operatives are all that different from corporations.
About our Speaker
Dr. Joseph Heath is a Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Toronto. Dr. Heath is a renowned and award-winning philosopher and author. He is the author of several books, both popular and academic, including Filthy Lucre and The Rebel Sell. His most recent book is titled, Cooperation and Social Justice.
Event Details
Date: December 5, 2024
Time: 4:00 – 5:30 PM (Saskatchewan Time or Central Standard Time)
Where: This is a hybrid event and will take place in Prairie Room, Diefenbaker Building (101 Diefenbaker Place, University of Saskatchewan) and on Zoom
File: Download Event Poster
Fredeen Lecture
The Fredeen Lecture is hosted annually and features the research of the most recent recipient of the Hartley and Margaret Fredeen Scholarship in Co-operative Studies. This scholarship is offered annually to a student who is conducting research on co-operatives, either entering or continuing studies in a master's or doctoral program at the University of Saskatchewan.
The 2025 Fredeen Lecture (featuring Candice Minott))
Moral Suasion as a Policy Tool: How Effective are Ethical Appeals in Advancing TRC #92 and UNDRIP in Saskatchewan Credit Unions? featuring Candice Minott
This year’s Fredeen Lecture explores the effectiveness of moral suasion (ethical appeals) as a policy tool to advance reconciliation efforts within Saskatchewan credit unions. Specifically, it examines how two Saskatchewan credit unions have operationalized the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Call to Action #92 and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) within their governance structures, policies and practices. In 2018, the Canadian Credit Union Association (CCUA) made an important signal to its members as it confirmed a resolution on Truth and Reconciliation at its Annual General Meeting to adopt the TRC and UNDRIP as a reconciliation framework. The resolution also encouraged CCUA delegates to respond to this call and to share similar resolutions with their boards of directors to demonstrate support for Indigenous Peoples in Canada. The talk will review the research findings, assess the circumstances under which moral suasion is effective and evaluate how co-operative values intersect with reconciliation frameworks.
Presented by Candice Minott, Recipient of the 2024 Hartley and Margaret Fredeen Scholarship in Co-operative Studies
Candice Minott graduated this fall with a Master of Public Policy from the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan. Concurrently, Candice is the Community Engagement Consultant at Co-operatives First, where she supports the development of co-operatives across Western Canada.
Event Details
Date: Thursday, November 20, 2024
Time: 1:00 – 2:00 PM (Saskatchewan Time or Central Standard Time)
Where: On Zoom
File: Download Event Poster
Past lectures can be found here: Past Fredeen Lecture.
Special Talks
The Canadian Centre for the Study of Co-operatives hosts additional periodical public lectures featuring topical research and visiting scholars. Below you can find our most recent special talk and an archive of special talks we have hosted in the past.
Business Not as Usual – Own Your Future
Business NOT as Usual: Own Your Future is a national virtual event designed to connect with and inspire the change-makers of tomorrow, because they know the future doesn’t have to be out of reach, it just needs to be built differently.
Across Canada, this generation is asking big questions about work, housing, money, and belonging. This national virtual event is here to spark answers. Together, we’ll explore how co-operatives (values-led, community-owned businesses) are creating bold, practical solutions for a generation ready to rethink what’s possible.
You’ll hear from futurists, researchers, and young co-op leaders who are proving there’s more than one way forward. From affordable housing to fair work to local ownership, this conversation is about rethinking "business as usual" - and reimagining how you can be part of it.
Event Details
Date: Thursday, October 16
Time: 10:00 - 11:30 AM CST (Saskatchewan time)
Where: On Zoom (free to attend)
Past talks can be found here: Past Special Talks.
Co-operatives in a Time of Crisis
In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadian Centre for the Study Co-operatives launched the "Co-operatives in Times of Crisis Conversation Series", which asked leaders in co-operatives, big and small, how they were making use of their co-operative structure to address the challenges posed by the COVID-19 crisis.
Jen Budney, Professional Research Associate, the Canadian Centre for the Study of Co-operatives and former Chair, the Spadina Early Learning and Childcare Co-operative
Past talks can be found here: Full Series Conversation.