Co-operatives and credit unions in Canada

Canada's 9,000 co-operatives and credit unions can be found in virtually every sector of the economy and touch the lives of millions of Canadians.  Collectively, they have some 18 million members, more than 150,000 employees and control assets of more than $330 billion.

No matter where you live in Canada, you're likely to find co-operatives. You can be born with the help of a health care co-op and buried by a funeral co-op. In between, you can work in a worker co-op, live in a housing co-op, eat food produced by agricultural co-ops and buy that food at a retail co-op. You can send your children to a day care co-op, do all your banking at a credit union and purchase your insurance from an insurance co-op.

In this section of the website, you'll find out more about co-operatives in Canada, their history  and the movement that they are part of. 

Prepared by the Rural and Co-operative Secretariat, June 2011