| Type | Cooperative federation |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1987 |
| Headquarters | Ottawa, Canada |
| Key people | Claude Gauthier, President Carol Hunter, Executive Director |
| Website | coopscanada.coop |
The Canadian Co-operative Association (CCA) is a national cooperative federation for Canadian co-operatives headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. CCA represents over 2000 co-operatives and credit unions with 9 million members.[1] CCA member organisations come from many sectors of the economy, including finance, insurance, agri-food and supply, wholesale and retail, housing, health and the service sector. CCA provides leadership to promote, develop, and unite co-operatives and credit unions for the benefit of people in Canada and around the world.
CCA collaborates with the Conseil canadien de la coopération et de la mutualité, its francophone sister organization in Canada.
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CCA was created in 1987 by the merger of the Co-operative Union of Canada (founded on March 9, 1909) and the Co-operative College of Canada. The Co-operative Union of Canada was formed in 1909 to encourage sharing of information, mutual self-help and concerted actions among co-operative organizations. From 1973 to 1987, the Co-operative College of Canada was a national centre for co-operative education and research. It was established to provide co-op business training and to teach co-op principles. Although the college itself was short-lived, its formative years go back to the late 1930s and early 1940s, when there was a strong push and a practical need for an educational link to the co-operative movement.
Among those who have led CCA and the CUC since its inception in 1909 are A.B. MacDonald, a prominent leader in the Antigonish Movement, Alexander Laidlaw and Dr. Ian MacPherson.