A SILENT TRANSFORMATION - Transcript

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[droning ambient music]

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- We learn certain values

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and we all learn these values very young.

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We're told we have to
be nice to other people,

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we have to take turns.

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The values that we are raised
with, that we aspire to,

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cannot penetrate the walls
of business for some reason.

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It's very nice to be good, and thoughtful,

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but business is business.

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- Human beings can be
each other's worst rivals.

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Because you have the same needs as me,

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we are rivals for everything that I have.

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You will try and get the food first,

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you will compete for sexual partners,

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for housing, and so on.

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The bigger the differences are between us,

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the more worried we
all are by where we are

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and how we're seen, and
so there's even more

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status competition at the top.

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But human beings also have the capacity

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to be the best source of cooperation,

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of friendship, assistance.

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- Why do some people get paid millions

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and millions and millions of dollars

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for not working hard, while
those who work very hard,

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sweating their labor,
get paid less and less?

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- Co-ops are an incredibly
important antidote

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to economic globalization.

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They usually start from necessity.

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Usually groups in a community say, well,

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"We're waiting for
governments to do something,

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"we're waiting forever."

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So they come together
because of high unemployment

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and a need for local economic
development strategy,

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and they come up with brilliant concepts.

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I mean the co-op movement is as varied

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as a biologically diverse
forest, if you will.

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- It's not about, come in,
make your profits and leave.

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It's more about what they
call generational equity.

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It's about building for you,

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but it's also building
for the next generation.

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- We just need to open our eyes to co-ops

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and see the potential that lies there,

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not for extreme wealth, but
for good quality of life

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and a stable existence.

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[reverberating instrumental music]

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[snow crunching underfoot]

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- Where we are right now
is a toxic waste dump

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at Adelaide and Hamilton Road.

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Under the ground is toxic waste left

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from the first oil refineries that were

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ever developed in Canada.

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Imperial Oil was here,
and there was a oil rush

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just West of London, at Petrolia.

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This oil rush put a lot
of money into London,

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and there was capital
and a lot of businesses

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were started up, and the London East area

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became very prosperous.

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After the war, that's when the U.S.,

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the corporations moved in,
and so General Motors arrived

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in Canada, GM Diesel and
the Ford plant, and 3M.

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Half of those corporations are gone.

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They've left.

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The Ford plant's closed, GM is
closed, Kellogg's is closed.

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So we've seen a
de-industrialization of London

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with a lot of unemployment,
a lot of increasing poverty.

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But we put our faith
in these corporations.

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They came and they promised the city

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great wealth and jobs and prosperity.

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But as you see here, they've left us

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with the toxic waste dumps
and run-down old factories.

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[traffic noise]

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After the war, in the '40s and '50s,

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all the farmers from around this area

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would bring their produce here to sell.

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There were department stores
here and hardware stores

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and clothing stores, and then in the '80s

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the whole neighborhood
started to shut down,

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everybody moved away.

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And what we ended up with
was vacant, empty buildings.

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And now we're just working

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really, really hard to revive it.

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[reverberating guitar music]

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- I gotta check somethin'.

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The old East Village.

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Yeah, I've been in this neighborhood

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since, I mean I could
walk, I was coming up here.

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A few of my friends lived on Dundas.

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I mean in the past year people
are starting to realize how

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I wanna say involved of a community it is

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with places like us,
you know, being a co-op,

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and the Root Cellar
starting a local business.

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I don't know if for
me, working here it's--

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I do feel like part of
the shop family now.

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- London's a really,
really, really, really

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big skate community.

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I can't imagine what other city of 350,000

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has 11 or 12 skate parks.

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- Two of the founding directors

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had had experience with
cooperatives before,

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and I think we sort of were able

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to put that across to the other guys

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that that model was something that would

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sort of ease the transition in

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and providing a framework
for us to work together.

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- Everybody who got
together to start this,

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we're all friends, and we
all cared so much about

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the sport and the scene in the city

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that we just-- we knew we had to do it.

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So the skateboarding community
is the first and foremost

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important thing that
we try to take care of.

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- Three minutes.

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[megaphone siren blaring]

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- My English name is Tina Stevens.

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[speaking Native dialect], and that's--

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Little Pigeon is my Native name.

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Basically I've been in the London area

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ever since I was born in 1968.

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And lived over in the more eastern area.

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My mum decided to come
and make the application

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for the co-op, and so she was here,

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and when they had a lot of
different mixed incomes,

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different variety of families,

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a lot of different backgrounds, so.

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Whether we have people that have come in

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from the Chippewas of the Thames,

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whether they're from the United Nation

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or Munsee-Delaware, we
have a lot of our families

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that come in and so that their children

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are able to attend the
schools here as well.

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It always has been a
cooperative housing structure

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that has been made for families.

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- Hi, my name is Gail Sands.

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I've been in the Native
Inter-Tribal Housing Co-op

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for the last 30 years.

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My two sons are part of the co-op as well.

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You see everybody's families growing up

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because there's a lot of
us that have lived here

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for as long as I've been here.

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- It is community-based and you do know

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a majority of the people that are in here.

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It's made to feel to give
you that independence

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and like you belong to that neighborhood

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that you're actually placed in.

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If you get into a co-op
you're very fortunate,

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because there's long waiting
lists for these co-ops.

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The things that this
co-op asks of our members

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ain't very much, it's not
a lot to attend a meeting

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here and there and to
belong to a committee

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where you're gonna help out.

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That's what co-op means, cooperative,

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get together and get this done

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and keep this maintained and
keep it for future generations.

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And that's how I see it there.

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[reverberating guitar music]

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- We're at the Root
Cellar in London, Ontario,

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and this is a local organic restaurant

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created by On the Move Organics,

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and we're in transition to
a worker-owned cooperative.

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The Root Cellar went
from being a 19-seat cafe

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to a 60-seat, full-service
restaurant in May of 2014.

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Basically the way that we've done it is

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by developing relationships
with producers.

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This is an experiment in scale,

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and we need enough turns
inside of the restaurant

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in order for it to take
that very thin margin

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and expand it enough for us to be able to

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make it a fiscally sustainable business.

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There are three driving forces.

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We have the fiscal, the social

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and the environmental bottom-line.

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And unless we can achieve all three

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in some variation or form
each step of the way,

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we're not really interested in growth.

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We can say the fiscal growth allows us

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to be able to expand
services, expand our offering.

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There is a social component there

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where we have the capacity
to create more jobs,

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and those jobs eventually
become worker-owner positions

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where they have the ability

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to control their economic futures.

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- Our economy has improved
in the last year or so.

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The unemployment's gone down.

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And part of that's been a revival

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of what's left of the auto industry.

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But part of it's what
people have been doing here

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on their own in the community

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to rebuild our economy.

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And I think London's going to become

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a model to Canada about how

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to take control of your own lives,

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and how to rebuild your community.

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[train cars clacking]

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[ambient music]

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[light xylophone music]

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- Whatever type of social
movement or religious movement

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or cultural movement or economic movement,

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they always emerge out
of a specific context

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with different forces coming into play.

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So you think about the 19th century,

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what you had were a
whole bunch of movements

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which shaped cooperatives.

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One was basically urbanization

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and the expulsion of
peasants off the land.

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So they come to cities,

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they don't have food,

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that's how food cooperatives get organized

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in places like Rushdale.

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They don't have jobs, so
that's how worker cooperatives

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get organized, especially by artisans.

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They have need for supplies,

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so they start supply cooperatives.

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If they're still on the farm,

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they have troubles competing
with larger landowners.

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So they have needs for finance,

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so they have to develop
credit cooperatives.

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The other interesting
thing in places like Canada

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is that the cooperatives
actually took political form.

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And we see that with the
rise of the CCF in Canada,

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which became a major political party.

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And the CCF would later form the NDP,

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so we actually in effect had

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a cooperative political
party in Western Canada.

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They introduced a lot
of major social reforms,

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healthcare reforms in Saskatchewan,

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which would later be
introduced at a national level.

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So in terms of cooperatives,
they're economic institutions,

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but like all businesses
they're very concerned

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about the larger political
context in which they work,

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so they had to be socially
active and politically active.

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- We all lived at a time in the 1960s

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under full employment,

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when we knew that we
could get another job.

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So we made high wage demands.

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If that particular company closed,

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we could go down the street
and pick up another job.

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It created inflation.

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Either the higher wages pushed up prices,

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and capitalists couldn't pass those on

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because you were getting now

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imports from Japan and Germany

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with people earning less wages

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than we had here in North America.

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Capitalists and their parties responded

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by breaking the backs of trade unionism.

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It eventually led to the rise

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of the capitalist support for
Reaganism and Thatcherism.

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And now they went so far, these reforms,

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that they produced this
entirely chaotic capitalism.

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- There has never been a greater dichotomy

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between rich and poor in
Canada, in the United States,

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and in Mexico.

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Deregulation of the environment,

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privatization of public programs,

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unlimited rights for corporations.

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Let the market decide everything.

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They came up with a new
word called the precariat.

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It's a description of the three quarters

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of the world's people looking for work,

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who can't find decent work,
don't have any pension,

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don't have any security,
have no future to look to.

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Three quarters-- and it's
not just in the Global South,

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it's increasingly in the Global North.

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- Problems which are sensitive
to status differences

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get worse when you increase
the status differences.

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The causality is quite simple.

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If there's a ratio of 300 to 1

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between top and bottom in a company,

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there is no more powerful way

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of telling a whole
swathe of the population

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that you are worth almost nothing

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than to pay you one-third of
one percent of what I get.

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- Well insofar as we don't
get rid of capitalism

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and just keep reining it in,

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those ways of reining it in will produce

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new contradictions in capitalism

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and new forms of crisis.

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That's why we do need to think

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of how to develop people's capacities

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to change the whole system.

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[droning ambient music]

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- Cooperatives really developed
in capitalist society.

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You had these movements
for social justice.

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The labor movement was born
out of this capitalist reality,

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and cooperatives were born
within that system as well.

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The question "What is it cooperatives do?"

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has a lot to do with their purpose,

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which is to meet the
needs of their members,

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and it depends a lot on the principles

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and values of cooperation.

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- Cooperatives are
member-owned organizations.

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If you're incorporating
as a consumer cooperative,

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only consumers can be members.

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If you're a worker cooperative,

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you have to be a worker in the
cooperative to be a member.

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In a corporation, every
shareholder gets one vote

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for every share they own,
so it's your economic status

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which allows you to have control over

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how the business is run.

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But that's quite
different in cooperatives.

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- It's important to remember
that there are really

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four types of cooperative.

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There are producer cooperative,

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worker cooperative, consumer cooperative,

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and multistakeholder cooperatives

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which combine all of these.

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Co-ops really provide an opportunity

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for member economic democracy,

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which is a real benefit for an individual.

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You're not alone.

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You are collectively creating

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the conditions for your work,

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which means that you're protected.

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You're setting up a system whereby

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there are other people that can take on

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or help you with your job.

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The question is, how do you
create democratic systems

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which allow you to
maintain member democracy?

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- Planet Bean is an experiment.

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It started in 1997, and
essentially what it is

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is an attempt to develop
economic relationships

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that are respectful.

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This is all done within the
context of worker co-ops,

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so an enterprise that's owned
and democratically controlled

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by its workers, and Planet Bean is the

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activity that that worker co-op does.

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The worker co-op structure is grounded

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in principles and values,
things like economic equality

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in terms of "you reap what
you sow" collectively.

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It's this attempt to democratize capital

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and change the relationship
between workers and producers,

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their relationship with capital,

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which historically has been exploitative.

19:27.291 --> 19:29.874
[instrumental banjo music]

19:35.660 --> 19:37.799
- In a normal company--ah
this one is gonna be

19:37.799 --> 19:39.440
a hard one to turn--in a normal company

19:39.440 --> 19:42.240
I would have no say whether
I have benefits or not,

19:42.240 --> 19:45.280
but now because I'm part
of the co-op I'm gonna be

19:45.280 --> 19:46.730
trying to get people to vote--

19:48.320 --> 19:50.090
to vote to have benefits.

19:50.090 --> 19:51.810
Depending on how much
you want to be involved,

19:51.810 --> 19:54.003
you can actually really change your life.

20:00.020 --> 20:02.203
We have four days where we roast a week,

20:03.140 --> 20:05.410
so we're tasting these very
short after roasting them

20:05.410 --> 20:08.673
just so we can make sure
the quality's all there.

20:10.717 --> 20:12.200
When you're sipping coffee normally

20:12.200 --> 20:15.000
you get a lot of the texture,
and maybe the sweetness,

20:15.000 --> 20:17.620
but a lot of the things
like acidity are lost

20:17.620 --> 20:19.873
when you're not really
aerating that coffee.

20:21.405 --> 20:22.238
So it's a beautiful thing.

20:22.238 --> 20:23.071
And that's why we're so loud and noisy,

20:23.071 --> 20:24.663
it's not 'cause we have no manners.

20:26.600 --> 20:29.990
- This end cup takes so
many people along the line

20:29.990 --> 20:31.830
to make an end cup taste good.

20:31.830 --> 20:34.850
So the idea of a co-op in a structure

20:34.850 --> 20:36.950
from seed to cup is perfect,

20:36.950 --> 20:38.420
because you need the farmers,

20:38.420 --> 20:39.540
and you need the roasters,

20:39.540 --> 20:40.700
and you need the baristas,

20:40.700 --> 20:42.040
and you need the shippers

20:42.040 --> 20:44.393
and the sorters and everybody.

20:50.690 --> 20:52.150
- So there's two folks here

20:52.150 --> 20:54.080
visiting Planet Bean for a month.

20:54.080 --> 20:56.970
So they're from the Li
Maya Coffee Farmers Union

20:56.970 --> 20:58.421
in Chiapas, Mexico.

21:00.035 --> 21:02.952
[light xylophone music]

21:28.040 --> 21:32.660
- Li Maya's co-op started in 1996.

21:32.660 --> 21:35.273
My father is one of the founder.

21:36.260 --> 21:41.253
My father decided to work
together starting one village,

21:42.269 --> 21:46.876
and then he asked the other
villages if they want to join.

21:51.030 --> 21:53.413
We don't have any help
from the government,

21:54.533 --> 21:59.380
and most of the farmers
they are indigenous people.

21:59.380 --> 22:03.703
There is no opportunities
to sell their coffee.

22:06.140 --> 22:08.670
It's very important for farmers

22:08.670 --> 22:10.943
to get the higher prices.

22:22.170 --> 22:26.566
- Fair trade emerged to deal
with market inequalities

22:26.566 --> 22:27.766
that came out of neoliberalism.

22:27.766 --> 22:30.520
Now what are the benefits
of fair trade, you may ask?

22:30.520 --> 22:34.550
One is the impact it
has on the home economy.

22:34.550 --> 22:36.180
So producers, in the case of coffee,

22:36.180 --> 22:37.970
get a higher farm-gate
price for their coffee

22:37.970 --> 22:39.860
when they participate in fair trade.

22:39.860 --> 22:42.420
So that enables them to collectively

22:42.420 --> 22:44.220
get their product to
market so they're able

22:44.220 --> 22:45.810
to capture a lot of the value

22:45.810 --> 22:47.140
that would've been lost if someone else

22:47.140 --> 22:48.290
had taken it to market.

22:53.817 --> 22:58.376
Southern Ontario is the heartland
of capitalism in Canada.

22:58.376 --> 23:00.640
So it's hard to do business here anyway,

23:00.640 --> 23:02.760
because it's incredibly competitive.

23:02.760 --> 23:06.660
Even though we have
incredibly successful co-ops,

23:06.660 --> 23:08.960
it's difficult for people first of all

23:08.960 --> 23:10.950
to understand the model.

23:10.950 --> 23:15.950
There needs to be an
understanding of this experiment,

23:17.030 --> 23:19.420
what it means, how it operates,

23:19.420 --> 23:21.170
where it exists within the economy.

23:28.950 --> 23:32.410
- You know, capitalism is a
very, very competitive system.

23:32.410 --> 23:33.883
That's why it's so dynamic.

23:34.850 --> 23:37.563
It's competitive even when
you have big monopolies,

23:39.960 --> 23:43.330
you know, that may dominate
in a given industry

23:43.330 --> 23:44.730
or a given sector.

23:44.730 --> 23:46.810
Because they still
compete with one another

23:46.810 --> 23:51.643
over rates of profit, over
access to capital markets,

23:52.480 --> 23:55.000
over selling their corporate bonds.

23:55.000 --> 23:58.423
But they do that in a
competitive and chaotic way.

23:59.557 --> 24:02.470
There is no hidden hand behind this

24:02.470 --> 24:06.118
that makes it smooth and
brings it to equilibrium.

24:06.118 --> 24:08.243
This is the kind of propaganda

24:08.243 --> 24:11.833
that people are taught when
they study Economics courses.

24:12.780 --> 24:15.310
So it's a very competitive system,

24:15.310 --> 24:17.147
not so much in the sense that everybody

24:17.147 --> 24:20.500
has the same chance in this competition.

24:20.500 --> 24:23.090
Of course people know
that that's bullshit.

24:23.090 --> 24:24.950
The dynamic of the system depends

24:24.950 --> 24:26.703
on accumulating more and more.

24:27.650 --> 24:29.790
And it's not again because, you know,

24:29.790 --> 24:32.093
capitalists eat babies for breakfast.

24:33.400 --> 24:34.810
Because they're evil people.

24:34.810 --> 24:37.780
It's because if you don't
accumulate more and more,

24:37.780 --> 24:40.123
you then lose your
capital to those who do.

24:45.140 --> 24:47.610
- Capitalism really is
the tendency towards

24:47.610 --> 24:50.071
more private and exclusionary ownership

24:50.071 --> 24:52.460
of the means of production for profit,

24:52.460 --> 24:55.180
and in that sense cooperatives
are quite important

24:55.180 --> 24:57.110
in transitioning us away from that,

24:57.110 --> 24:58.900
away from a focus on profit,

24:58.900 --> 25:00.830
away from private ownership,

25:00.830 --> 25:03.420
to more collective and community ownership

25:03.420 --> 25:05.493
looking towards social goods.

25:06.810 --> 25:11.270
- The trouble is that
when people try to do that

25:11.270 --> 25:14.663
they are usually very
small fish in a market,

25:15.700 --> 25:17.870
and in order to survive they have

25:17.870 --> 25:20.880
to compete against capitalist firms,

25:20.880 --> 25:23.180
and then the discipline of competition

25:23.180 --> 25:26.601
gets imposed upon them collectively.

25:26.601 --> 25:29.020
So the competition can have an effect

25:29.020 --> 25:33.543
even on those people who try
to behave in a cooperative way.

25:37.145 --> 25:38.978
- Welcome to Meridian.

25:42.923 --> 25:46.067
So we're quite proud of our
new office here in Etobicoke.

25:46.067 --> 25:48.400
It's only, well, not
even a couple months old.

25:52.382 --> 25:53.873
- Morning, camera guy.

25:54.978 --> 25:56.090
- Yeah, one of the things we're working on

25:56.090 --> 25:59.300
is really instilling a lot of additional

25:59.300 --> 26:01.670
innovation, entrepreneurialism
within our culture.

26:01.670 --> 26:03.120
We talk about an ownership culture,

26:03.120 --> 26:04.700
so trying to create an environment

26:04.700 --> 26:06.720
that is conducive to that.

26:06.720 --> 26:08.327
Unlike a bank where you have,

26:08.327 --> 26:09.840
you know, a bank has customers,

26:09.840 --> 26:11.660
and then you have shareholders.

26:11.660 --> 26:13.860
But in the case of a credit union,

26:13.860 --> 26:16.010
your customers, which are your members,

26:16.010 --> 26:17.440
they are your shareholders, right?

26:17.440 --> 26:20.520
So when you come in to bank with Meridian

26:20.520 --> 26:23.443
or any credit union, you
become a member-owner.

26:24.310 --> 26:27.660
Whether you're worth $5,000,
$5 million or $10 million,

26:27.660 --> 26:29.040
you will have a very consistent

26:29.040 --> 26:31.373
customer experience or member experience.

26:32.520 --> 26:34.540
I like to say we build
stronger communities

26:34.540 --> 26:37.793
one member, one household,
one business at a time.

26:39.650 --> 26:42.520
- Credit unions are
financial consumer co-ops.

26:42.520 --> 26:43.918
They're different in legislation,

26:43.918 --> 26:45.590
so often people see them as different,

26:45.590 --> 26:48.880
but really they're there
to service their members'

26:48.880 --> 26:52.400
financial needs through a
collective organization.

26:52.400 --> 26:54.210
Now the interesting
thing about credit unions

26:54.210 --> 26:57.670
is they started off being
very locally specific,

26:57.670 --> 27:00.623
and therefore very accessible
to members democratically.

27:01.760 --> 27:03.860
Since 2012, when the Harper government

27:03.860 --> 27:07.560
changed the Credit Union
Act, they are now allowed

27:07.560 --> 27:10.910
to not just merge but merge
across provincial boundaries.

27:10.910 --> 27:12.750
And so credit unions are really struggling

27:12.750 --> 27:15.990
with attempts at innovating to maintain

27:15.990 --> 27:18.440
that democratic principle in the face of

27:18.440 --> 27:20.700
increasing mergers and acquisitions

27:20.700 --> 27:23.073
and larger and larger financial entities.

27:24.800 --> 27:26.920
- We're certainly the largest
credit union in Ontario,

27:26.920 --> 27:29.470
fourth largest in Canada.

27:29.470 --> 27:33.007
About $12.2 billion in
assets being managed,

27:33.007 --> 27:35.160
and we're at 71 branches
now, I'm quite proud of that.

27:35.160 --> 27:39.173
We've grown by 10 branches
just in the last 3 years.

27:40.620 --> 27:42.530
You know, we're at a
certain size where we have

27:42.530 --> 27:45.650
the breadth, we have the
sophistication, the capability

27:45.650 --> 27:48.730
to do a lot of things that our
larger competitors do, right?

27:48.730 --> 27:51.060
We have sophisticated risk management,

27:51.060 --> 27:53.050
we're doing a lot on the technology side

27:53.050 --> 27:56.020
to make banking services
more accessible for people

27:56.020 --> 27:58.213
through online, mobile.

27:59.110 --> 28:00.820
We're collaborating with
some other credit unions

28:00.820 --> 28:02.670
on some of these initiatives.

28:02.670 --> 28:04.300
So technology is a big thing.

28:04.300 --> 28:06.130
Certainly we've reflected
that in the office,

28:06.130 --> 28:08.930
but we're also reflecting
that in our member experience.

28:09.770 --> 28:12.210
We don't wanna be a stuffy Big Five bank.

28:12.210 --> 28:14.500
We are a local financial institution

28:14.500 --> 28:15.870
and we want it to feel local

28:15.870 --> 28:17.470
and comfortable in here as well.

28:20.600 --> 28:23.560
- You know, finance used
to be called high finance.

28:23.560 --> 28:25.740
The French called it "haute finance."

28:25.740 --> 28:27.200
And this was something that most people

28:27.200 --> 28:28.966
had nothing to do with, you know?

28:30.334 --> 28:32.222
It was financiers who lent money

28:32.222 --> 28:34.723
to kings to engage in wars.

28:36.662 --> 28:38.500
Now everybody is involved in finance.

28:38.500 --> 28:41.100
Their paychecks go directly into the bank.

28:41.100 --> 28:43.430
When you go into the bank
to deposit some money,

28:43.430 --> 28:44.547
the banker will say to you

28:44.547 --> 28:47.340
"No, don't put it in a deposit account.

28:47.340 --> 28:49.100
"You know, you should
put it in this security.

28:49.100 --> 28:51.520
"It will give you, it'll
be traded on the market,

28:51.520 --> 28:53.980
"you'll get maybe a
higher return, et cetera."

28:53.980 --> 28:56.650
People's pensions are bound up with this.

28:56.650 --> 29:00.270
So people became very
dependent for their livelihoods

29:00.270 --> 29:02.993
on the way in which
international finance operated.

29:04.102 --> 29:07.020
When the whole thing collapsed in 2008,

29:07.020 --> 29:09.440
the banks were saved by governments.

29:09.440 --> 29:11.730
If they hadn't been,
now what would have been

29:11.730 --> 29:14.972
the consequences for all the people

29:14.972 --> 29:17.780
who needed those banks to survive

29:17.780 --> 29:20.063
in order for them to be able to survive?

29:23.360 --> 29:25.423
We don't know how to run finance.

29:26.280 --> 29:28.280
Which is partly what
the cooperative movement

29:28.280 --> 29:30.510
is also saying, that this is a process

29:30.510 --> 29:32.730
of trying to democratize knowledge

29:33.640 --> 29:35.343
of how the economy works.

29:37.660 --> 29:40.160
- This community probably has

29:40.160 --> 29:44.920
hundreds of millions of dollars held by

29:44.920 --> 29:47.053
the citizens here in RRSPs.

29:48.070 --> 29:50.230
And those hundreds of millions of dollars

29:50.230 --> 29:52.870
are invested outside of our community.

29:52.870 --> 29:55.380
Now, regardless of whether
it's a co-op or not,

29:55.380 --> 29:58.070
wouldn't it be smarter to at least

29:58.070 --> 30:01.700
take a portion of that capital,
invest it in your community?

30:01.700 --> 30:02.970
Well, how do you do that?

30:02.970 --> 30:05.620
Where's the infrastructure
to enable that investment?

30:11.352 --> 30:14.019
[reverberating instrumental music]

30:23.050 --> 30:24.693
- I'm a co-op developer,

30:25.990 --> 30:28.500
basically focusing on building community

30:28.500 --> 30:30.833
and sustainability in communities.

30:31.980 --> 30:34.672
So that kind of triple bottom-line,

30:34.672 --> 30:36.572
so the economic part's gotta be there.

30:39.790 --> 30:43.110
So in our community, like a
lot of small rural communities

30:43.110 --> 30:44.863
that had a movie theater,

30:44.863 --> 30:47.103
a lot of those movie theaters closed.

30:47.103 --> 30:51.260
And if you like film and,
you know, cinema like I do,

30:51.260 --> 30:54.360
you wanna have a movie
theater in your town.

30:54.360 --> 30:57.060
In our community, the theater
was likely gonna close

30:57.060 --> 30:59.740
because the former owner that ran it

30:59.740 --> 31:03.230
for 34 years, Paul
Imperial, was gonna retire,

31:03.230 --> 31:06.920
and so I approached him to
see if he would be willing

31:06.920 --> 31:09.960
to sell the theater to
the community, basically,

31:09.960 --> 31:12.723
through a cooperative
organizational structure.

31:13.788 --> 31:16.410
We did a feasibility study,
I crunched the numbers.

31:16.410 --> 31:18.187
To raise the money we sold memberships,

31:18.187 --> 31:22.260
$20 for individuals and $40 for families.

31:22.260 --> 31:27.260
And then we sold bonds--
5, 10 and 15-year terms,

31:27.410 --> 31:29.030
at two-and-a-half, three percent

31:29.030 --> 31:31.040
and three-and-a-half percent interest.

31:31.040 --> 31:33.360
The community foundation took some of

31:33.360 --> 31:37.200
its investment money-- and they
have $7.5 million to invest.

31:37.200 --> 31:39.460
They took some of the
investment money, 50 grand,

31:39.460 --> 31:42.660
and put it into Aron bonds
as an alternative investment.

31:43.578 --> 31:45.890
We raised about $140,000 in bonds,

31:45.890 --> 31:48.490
and then we got Paul Imperial to take back

31:48.490 --> 31:50.893
first and second mortgage and voilà.

31:54.090 --> 31:57.003
We worked out a deal and
purchased the theater,

31:58.074 --> 31:59.980
and we've been operating
it now as a cooperative,

31:59.980 --> 32:03.403
a not-for-profit, for five years,

32:04.375 --> 32:05.590
and we've turned the business around.

32:05.590 --> 32:06.750
There's the Aron.

32:06.750 --> 32:09.060
We're gonna go and park at the back.

32:09.060 --> 32:10.750
I think the future of
the Aron Theater co-op

32:10.750 --> 32:12.700
is gonna be good as
long as we can continue

32:12.700 --> 32:15.520
to engage the members and get volunteers

32:15.520 --> 32:17.310
and board members volunteering

32:18.364 --> 32:19.714
and all that kind of stuff.

32:22.410 --> 32:25.150
- We had our first community meeting

32:25.150 --> 32:29.160
on November 18, 2009 in the theater.

32:29.160 --> 32:30.510
The theater was packed.

32:30.510 --> 32:34.003
On that night 130 people
signed up for memberships.

32:34.850 --> 32:37.050
We formed the co-op and incorporated it,

32:37.050 --> 32:40.310
so it was really a self-help project.

32:40.310 --> 32:41.600
We didn't get a whole lot of help

32:41.600 --> 32:43.003
from anybody else to do it.

32:47.564 --> 32:50.740
The Cineplex has 80% of the
theater screens in Canada,

32:50.740 --> 32:52.460
so they have a monopoly.

32:52.460 --> 32:54.160
So these little independent theaters,

32:54.160 --> 32:56.210
many of them went bankrupt.

32:56.210 --> 32:57.110
We didn't.

32:57.110 --> 32:58.950
You know, we kept our
theater in our community

32:58.950 --> 33:02.626
and it's thriving, like
our sales are 25% higher

33:02.626 --> 33:04.400
in the first two quarters this year

33:04.400 --> 33:06.050
than they were last year.

33:06.050 --> 33:08.260
Meanwhile, Hollywood sales are down.

33:08.260 --> 33:11.540
From my point of view,
cooperative businesses,

33:11.540 --> 33:14.100
because of their democratic nature,

33:14.100 --> 33:15.670
because the success rate's at least

33:15.670 --> 33:17.940
twice as good as regular businesses,

33:17.940 --> 33:21.580
because they keep the
capital in the communities

33:22.425 --> 33:24.110
and in the local regional areas.

33:24.110 --> 33:26.410
People learn how to be involved with

33:26.410 --> 33:28.870
the board of directors, they
learn leadership skills,

33:28.870 --> 33:31.210
they learn how to read
financial statements,

33:31.210 --> 33:33.930
they learn how to run
a business, you know?

33:33.930 --> 33:37.890
All that just builds sort of
capacity in the community.

33:37.890 --> 33:39.420
By cooperating with each other,

33:39.420 --> 33:43.070
people realize that they
actually can accomplish a lot

33:43.070 --> 33:45.680
that maybe they thought they
couldn't as an individual.

33:45.680 --> 33:47.991
But they sure can collectively.

33:47.991 --> 33:51.130
So I think it creates a whole dynamic

33:51.130 --> 33:54.599
in the society of bringing people together

33:54.599 --> 33:57.530
and actually meeting their
needs in a better way

33:57.530 --> 33:59.603
and improving their quality of life.

34:06.181 --> 34:08.764
[reverberating instrumental music]

34:17.092 --> 34:19.716
[droning ambient music]

34:32.260 --> 34:35.120
- It's hard to believe that in 1968,

34:35.120 --> 34:36.670
there were more high-rises being built

34:36.670 --> 34:38.270
in Toronto than there are today.

34:41.680 --> 34:43.800
Back then, we were looking first

34:43.800 --> 34:46.720
for the co-ops as a way to give

34:46.720 --> 34:50.430
the community power to
stop the developers.

34:50.430 --> 34:53.620
One of the major issues was blockbusting.

34:53.620 --> 34:55.910
These developers were trying to come in,

34:55.910 --> 34:59.170
buy up houses, so they could eventually

34:59.170 --> 35:01.483
drop a high-rise somewhere.

35:03.920 --> 35:05.610
We got all these huge high-rises

35:05.610 --> 35:08.740
because the federal
government subsidized them.

35:11.408 --> 35:16.396
They canceled the capital
cost allowance in 1972.

35:20.200 --> 35:22.730
Suddenly, all the new building stopped.

35:22.730 --> 35:25.490
There was no new rental
housing being built.

35:25.490 --> 35:27.480
Prices started to go up.

35:27.480 --> 35:29.610
A landlord, when your lease was over,

35:29.610 --> 35:31.730
could choose any rent they
wanted to increase it to.

35:31.730 --> 35:32.830
There was no rent review.

35:32.830 --> 35:34.730
It was very easy to get evictions.

35:34.730 --> 35:35.827
The landlord just went to court,

35:35.827 --> 35:39.050
and there was an order and
you'd be out a day later.

35:39.050 --> 35:41.250
And so everybody was feeling

35:41.250 --> 35:43.970
pretty frustrated by this, I mean--

35:43.970 --> 35:47.530
And so the housing co-op movement here,

35:47.530 --> 35:50.940
to some extent, came because
the federal government said,

35:50.940 --> 35:55.580
"Hmm, we need to get more
affordable rentals built."

35:55.580 --> 35:58.300
So, they created a program in 1973.

35:58.300 --> 36:01.330
As I said, it was better
value for their buck

36:01.330 --> 36:03.273
to subsidize a non-profit sector.

36:07.870 --> 36:10.040
What we did is, we started saying that

36:10.040 --> 36:11.450
we should be buying houses

36:11.450 --> 36:13.710
up in the Dufferin Grove neighborhood.

36:13.710 --> 36:17.620
We saw the co-op as being a
community-based organization

36:17.620 --> 36:21.789
that would allow us to have
some control in our communities

36:21.789 --> 36:22.939
over what was going on.

36:31.094 --> 36:34.180
- So we are in Parkdale, in Toronto.

36:34.180 --> 36:38.130
This is, I guess, one of
the old suburbs of Toronto.

36:38.130 --> 36:40.910
It was one of the really
affluent neighborhoods

36:40.910 --> 36:42.930
many, many years ago.

36:42.930 --> 36:45.660
In the '70s they started
to kind of build up,

36:45.660 --> 36:47.010
condensify the neighborhood,

36:47.010 --> 36:49.440
and that created some high-rise buildings.

36:49.440 --> 36:51.250
And then it was also an opportunity

36:51.250 --> 36:53.100
for a lot of immigrant
communities to come in.

36:53.100 --> 36:55.613
So the character of
Parkdale changed a lot.

36:56.628 --> 36:59.461
[stacatto instrumental music]

37:02.600 --> 37:06.383
These are the start of the
Dufferin Grove Housing Co-op.

37:07.390 --> 37:08.940
I'm gonna take you guys inside.

37:09.828 --> 37:11.488
[doorbell buzzer]

37:11.488 --> 37:12.321
We got in.

37:15.538 --> 37:16.910
We've got 62 units.

37:16.910 --> 37:18.018
Some of those are single,

37:18.018 --> 37:19.601
some of those are households of, you know,

37:19.601 --> 37:21.240
two, three, four, more.

37:21.240 --> 37:24.223
So it'd probably be about 120 members.

37:25.090 --> 37:27.120
I think I have a particular vision

37:27.120 --> 37:29.940
of what the Dufferin
Grove Housing Co-op can do

37:29.940 --> 37:33.100
to both support upward mobility as well as

37:33.100 --> 37:36.523
maintain affordable housing
for community members.

37:40.100 --> 37:42.410
- The housing co-op itself, our members,

37:42.410 --> 37:46.180
our board of directors,
our property management,

37:46.180 --> 37:49.010
those are the people that
make up the housing co-op

37:49.010 --> 37:50.893
and how it functions as a whole.

37:51.769 --> 37:53.650
The housing fee that we pay every month

37:53.650 --> 37:55.890
covers the basics that
we need to be able to

37:55.890 --> 37:59.077
have our houses function
and pay off the mortgages.

37:59.077 --> 38:03.268
But that really lays
quite a lower baseline

38:03.268 --> 38:05.973
for our housing fee
compared to the market rent.

38:08.124 --> 38:10.620
- The housing co-op has subsidies

38:10.620 --> 38:14.210
that are administered by CMHC,

38:14.210 --> 38:15.950
or the Agency For Cooperative Housing,

38:15.950 --> 38:19.160
and so that allows us to
have rent geared to incomes.

38:19.160 --> 38:22.360
So for people who are on
OW, who'll be maybe making

38:22.360 --> 38:26.540
between $600 to $800 a month,

38:26.540 --> 38:30.530
they only pay 30% of that
as their housing charge.

38:30.530 --> 38:32.180
And then the rest of that housing charge

38:32.180 --> 38:33.980
is subsidized by the government.

38:33.980 --> 38:36.170
And so the housing co-op
has a responsibility

38:36.170 --> 38:38.970
to be able to maintain those subsidies

38:38.970 --> 38:40.797
once our agreements with CMHC

38:40.797 --> 38:43.920
and the Agency For
Cooperative Housing ends.

38:43.920 --> 38:47.410
How do we keep our buildings'
infrastructure up-to-date,

38:47.410 --> 38:50.360
in good standing, while
still having the revenue

38:50.360 --> 38:52.643
to subsidize our lower income members?

38:53.725 --> 38:55.283
It will take a lot of work,

38:55.283 --> 38:57.290
and it takes a lot of kind
of financial knowledge

38:57.290 --> 38:59.060
and financial modeling, and then also

38:59.060 --> 39:01.010
engaging our community to see exactly

39:01.010 --> 39:02.210
how we're gonna do that.

39:04.300 --> 39:08.970
- There's only one way you can
develop new housing, right?

39:08.970 --> 39:10.970
You gotta get money from the government.

39:12.390 --> 39:16.710
When Harris came in in
1995, he basically canceled

39:16.710 --> 39:19.650
all the funding for new housing co-ops

39:19.650 --> 39:22.038
and new non-profits.

39:22.038 --> 39:23.304
Cold turkey.

39:23.304 --> 39:26.200
The result is that not
just that the waiting lists

39:26.200 --> 39:29.500
sky-rocketed, because there's
no longer any new supply,

39:29.500 --> 39:32.410
but also we had suddenly discovered

39:32.410 --> 39:33.860
there was a homeless problem.

39:36.080 --> 39:39.630
The developers are building
stuff that is short-term.

39:39.630 --> 39:42.150
The city says you can
get a government funding

39:42.150 --> 39:43.630
to build rental, but you only have

39:43.630 --> 39:45.573
to keep it affordable for 20 years.

39:46.770 --> 39:50.130
We need affordable housing in perpetuity.

39:50.130 --> 39:51.960
The energy that the co-ops are doing,

39:51.960 --> 39:53.970
or the non-profits, is to build

39:53.970 --> 39:55.683
perpetually affordable housing.

40:02.400 --> 40:04.730
- We're facing huge challenges.

40:04.730 --> 40:08.400
We want government to play its major role

40:08.400 --> 40:12.350
but also we need people to self-organize,

40:12.350 --> 40:15.400
and cooperatives have
historically done that

40:15.400 --> 40:18.125
for well over 150 years.

40:18.125 --> 40:20.041
And that means we need people

40:20.041 --> 40:23.213
to be engaged citizens as well.

40:27.740 --> 40:30.310
- So I'm Joshua Barndt, I'm
the Development Coordinator

40:30.310 --> 40:33.040
of the Parkdale Neighborhood Land Trust.

40:33.040 --> 40:35.930
A community land trust is
a non-profit organization

40:35.930 --> 40:38.210
that owns land on behalf of a community

40:38.210 --> 40:41.330
and puts that land to use
to meet community needs.

40:41.330 --> 40:43.340
Right now in Parkdale we're experiencing

40:43.340 --> 40:45.628
quite fast-paced gentrification

40:45.628 --> 40:48.173
as well as intensive
real estate speculation.

40:50.960 --> 40:53.490
Gentrification and real estate speculation

40:53.490 --> 40:55.410
is a struggle over land.

40:55.410 --> 40:57.430
People who live and work in Parkdale

40:57.430 --> 41:00.690
don't have a say in how
land is used and developed,

41:00.690 --> 41:03.440
and what this often means
is that lower-income

41:03.440 --> 41:05.360
and vulnerable community members

41:05.360 --> 41:09.020
are actually displaced as
development moves forward.

41:09.020 --> 41:11.870
This site right here, 1521 Queens Street,

41:11.870 --> 41:15.483
used to house 25 low-income tenants.

41:16.760 --> 41:20.370
Last year, a developer who produces condos

41:20.370 --> 41:21.620
purchased this building.

41:21.620 --> 41:23.360
They served seven-day eviction notices

41:23.360 --> 41:26.923
to 25 low-income tenants,
displacing them from the site.

41:28.000 --> 41:29.650
This is a really good example

41:29.650 --> 41:31.115
of how real estate development

41:31.115 --> 41:33.262
and sort of the more corporate interests

41:33.262 --> 41:36.690
produce housing that doesn't
serve the local community

41:36.690 --> 41:38.510
and the needs of the local community,

41:38.510 --> 41:42.093
but rather a higher-income
future resident.

41:48.240 --> 41:50.000
Today it's sort of a big day.

41:50.000 --> 41:52.000
We're having the fundraiser
for the Milky Way Garden.

41:52.000 --> 41:54.750
It's the first acquisition
of the community land trust.

41:55.970 --> 41:57.840
We're bringing together community members.

41:57.840 --> 42:00.380
Some of the students who
are gardening on the land,

42:00.380 --> 42:03.740
they're mostly elderly
Tibetan ESL students,

42:03.740 --> 42:06.520
Tibetan refugees-- leaders
in the psychiatric survivor

42:06.520 --> 42:09.090
community who are gonna be with us today.

42:09.090 --> 42:10.880
We have homeowners coming out,

42:10.880 --> 42:12.950
we have political representatives.

42:12.950 --> 42:14.640
The community land trust
can sort of bring together

42:14.640 --> 42:17.900
this cross section of
stakeholders to think about

42:17.900 --> 42:19.600
what our collective interests are.

42:23.720 --> 42:26.460
- So here at this
beautiful community event,

42:26.460 --> 42:28.816
really in the spirit of
people coming together,

42:28.816 --> 42:31.724
they're participating in
this long-standing project

42:31.724 --> 42:32.968
to reclaim land.

42:34.580 --> 42:36.440
I think what we see in the world today

42:36.440 --> 42:39.360
is a battle of two different world views.

42:39.360 --> 42:42.163
One world view, the capitalist economy,

42:43.000 --> 42:44.800
the powerful forces in society

42:44.800 --> 42:46.620
that sees everything as a commodity

42:46.620 --> 42:48.123
from which to extract value.

42:49.790 --> 42:50.970
And there's another world view

42:50.970 --> 42:53.480
that sees this relationship of extraction

42:53.480 --> 42:57.234
as a road to planetary suicide,
and sees the climate crisis

42:57.234 --> 42:59.690
as a message from the Earth telling us

42:59.690 --> 43:02.330
that we can't have this
one-way relationship

43:02.330 --> 43:04.333
of exploitation with the
earth and with each other.

43:04.333 --> 43:05.733
So we need to cooperate.

43:08.630 --> 43:11.210
And those circles of community,

43:11.210 --> 43:13.910
this beautiful community
where land is being reclaimed

43:13.910 --> 43:16.123
through a collective cooperative effort,

43:16.970 --> 43:18.363
this is the hope.

43:23.657 --> 43:26.490
[reverberating instrumental music]

44:14.797 --> 44:16.130
- Clamp it down.

44:27.260 --> 44:31.250
I'm Jim Deacove, President
of Family Pastimes.

44:31.250 --> 44:33.970
We have the largest collection

44:33.970 --> 44:36.087
of cooperative games in the world.

44:39.993 --> 44:42.350
When our two little girls got to be

44:42.350 --> 44:46.650
of game-playing age, we noticed
that every game they played

44:46.650 --> 44:50.890
they really got into all
kinds of fights and battles.

44:50.890 --> 44:53.290
The nature of the
activity, it dawned on us,

44:53.290 --> 44:55.420
was what was causing the difficulty.

44:55.420 --> 44:58.350
Because simply enough, a game pitted

44:58.350 --> 45:01.129
one sister against the other.

45:02.637 --> 45:04.850
The game really first of all

45:04.850 --> 45:07.286
is a socializing event.

45:08.200 --> 45:10.550
I mean, the reason I call my friends over

45:10.550 --> 45:12.940
is not because I wanna taste their blood,

45:12.940 --> 45:15.777
but I wanna do something
with them [laughs].

45:17.680 --> 45:21.363
I started tinkering
with the rules of games,

45:23.369 --> 45:27.450
and then I just ran out of
things to tinker with and change.

45:27.450 --> 45:29.990
And it struck me that I could look

45:29.990 --> 45:31.460
to see what our family was doing,

45:31.460 --> 45:33.893
and one of the things was
harvesting our garden.

45:35.044 --> 45:39.363
And that became my first cooperative game.

45:39.363 --> 45:41.255
My first designing principle is

45:42.290 --> 45:45.440
never have the players
against one another.

45:45.440 --> 45:47.120
Work on something that gets them

45:47.120 --> 45:48.720
doing something together.

45:48.720 --> 45:52.430
Leaders still emerge, but
a person who's a leader

45:53.660 --> 45:56.460
doesn't necessarily
have to be manipulating

45:56.460 --> 45:58.650
other people and exploiting
their weaknesses,

45:58.650 --> 46:01.060
doing things so that they can get ahead.

46:01.060 --> 46:06.060
Rather, it's they use their strengths

46:06.765 --> 46:07.865
to assist others.

46:11.840 --> 46:15.163
My background is co-ops.

46:17.423 --> 46:18.700
It's the credit unions, it's all that.

46:18.700 --> 46:20.220
When I was a little kid,

46:20.220 --> 46:21.863
and the harvesting time came,

46:23.170 --> 46:25.110
groups of farmers who couldn't afford

46:25.110 --> 46:28.070
all the grand equipment would share.

46:28.070 --> 46:30.313
If somebody's barn burned down,

46:31.995 --> 46:34.660
I mean in a weekend, the
people would gather 'round,

46:34.660 --> 46:37.743
there'd be a barn raising,
this huge cooperative effort.

46:38.677 --> 46:40.920
What really gets me high

46:40.920 --> 46:43.650
is watching a Mennonite barn raising.

46:43.650 --> 46:44.853
God, that's exciting!

46:46.790 --> 46:49.560
The little town we lived
in had a little hall

46:49.560 --> 46:52.140
where people would gather and put on

46:52.140 --> 46:56.830
little funny skits or play
their musical instruments.

46:56.830 --> 46:59.622
There was Percy's Soda
Shop and stuff like that.

47:02.635 --> 47:03.802
It's all gone.

47:07.970 --> 47:10.720
[droning ambient music]

47:34.953 --> 47:36.853
- The food system's broken.

47:38.244 --> 47:40.602
And the consumers are
getting food which is not

47:40.602 --> 47:43.475
as nutritionally healthy as it used to be.

47:44.530 --> 47:49.113
13% of Canadians are facing
hunger, food insecurity.

47:50.750 --> 47:53.180
Farmers are in so much debt, right,

47:53.180 --> 47:54.260
that they can't keep farming.

47:54.260 --> 47:57.320
They have to sell the land
for the highest value.

47:57.320 --> 48:02.010
Ever since the late 1960s,
the movement in Canada

48:02.010 --> 48:03.780
has been towards
commodities, right, towards

48:03.780 --> 48:06.940
export-focused agriculture.

48:06.940 --> 48:08.600
It's a little disingenuous when sometimes

48:08.600 --> 48:12.110
people talk about food and how important

48:12.110 --> 48:13.910
agriculture is to Ontario
and stuff like that,

48:13.910 --> 48:16.360
because the percentage of that agriculture

48:16.360 --> 48:18.650
which is either corn, soy, or wheat--

48:18.650 --> 48:20.700
it's a rotation of corn, soy, wheat--

48:20.700 --> 48:23.120
and that's for export.

48:23.120 --> 48:26.330
Canada gets the majority
of its food from the U.S.,

48:26.330 --> 48:30.270
and that's because they're
not growing food crops here.

48:30.270 --> 48:32.150
I went around interviewing farmers about

48:32.150 --> 48:34.730
farmland and how to keep land for food,

48:34.730 --> 48:36.630
and one of the primary things they said

48:36.630 --> 48:38.180
was not so much that they cared

48:39.078 --> 48:40.500
what structure of ownership they had,

48:40.500 --> 48:44.460
but that they wanted to have
governance power over it.

48:44.460 --> 48:46.463
They're like, "We just wanna have a say,

48:46.463 --> 48:48.650
"we want it to be something that we own,"

48:48.650 --> 48:51.493
and then the easiest way
to do that is a co-op.

48:58.638 --> 49:00.460
- There's very little industry left today

49:00.460 --> 49:02.410
in the rural communities.

49:02.410 --> 49:04.033
Industry is shutting down.

49:05.540 --> 49:08.423
So what's going to happen
to our rural communities?

49:13.290 --> 49:16.810
Our members I think
become members of Gay Lea

49:16.810 --> 49:18.313
for a couple of reasons.

49:18.313 --> 49:22.590
First of all, it takes
them beyond the farm.

49:22.590 --> 49:26.833
We are owned by 1,200
dairy farmers of Ontario.

49:29.470 --> 49:32.960
They are family farms
that belong to Gay Lea

49:32.960 --> 49:34.433
and invest in Gay Lea.

49:36.900 --> 49:39.520
So you have the raw material, milk,

49:39.520 --> 49:42.270
which is being transformed
into consumer goods

49:42.270 --> 49:44.483
or ingredients or
whatever the case may be.

49:45.887 --> 49:47.920
And they have an
opportunity to participate

49:47.920 --> 49:50.096
right from the farm to the fork.

49:55.320 --> 49:57.340
So they're not just a primary producer

49:57.340 --> 49:59.740
where they're taking
something out of the ground,

49:59.740 --> 50:02.630
putting it into a box, and
never knowing what's going on.

50:02.630 --> 50:04.597
They're able to participate in that,

50:04.597 --> 50:06.873
but they're also able to influence.

50:09.370 --> 50:12.150
What's critical to sustainability?

50:12.150 --> 50:15.573
It's gotta be of community,
by community, for community.

50:27.301 --> 50:30.218
[reverberating ambient music]

50:48.740 --> 50:50.410
- Co-ops are incredibly powerful, right?

50:50.410 --> 50:52.930
We know they're twice as likely to survive

50:52.930 --> 50:53.770
as a regular business.

50:53.770 --> 50:55.010
Why is that?

50:55.010 --> 50:56.540
There's stuff that's going on that doesn't

50:56.540 --> 51:00.220
tend to get counted in sort of
standard business accounting,

51:00.220 --> 51:04.250
and one of them is the
social capital, the trust,

51:04.250 --> 51:06.020
the loyalty that people have.

51:06.020 --> 51:08.190
I mean, people will make a relationship

51:08.190 --> 51:10.010
with a farmer at a farmers market,

51:10.010 --> 51:11.530
and they will then go out of their way

51:11.530 --> 51:15.170
to make sure that they keep
shopping at the same place.

51:15.170 --> 51:17.710
It's a whole cultural product

51:17.710 --> 51:20.463
which takes time, actually, to build.

51:23.122 --> 51:25.789
[plucked banjo music]

51:36.090 --> 51:38.197
- My name is Sandra Dombi,

51:38.197 --> 51:40.996
and my business is Kind Organics,

51:40.996 --> 51:44.120
and we sell sprouts and baby greens.

51:44.120 --> 51:46.230
The way we started out is that we were

51:46.230 --> 51:48.190
growing some stuff and
looking for places to sell it.

51:48.190 --> 51:51.240
So the first thought we
had was farmers markets,

51:51.240 --> 51:52.990
and we came to this market
and they accepted us in,

51:52.990 --> 51:55.600
and then we learned about
the West End Food Co-op.

51:55.600 --> 51:58.440
So what we did was we
decided to support them,

51:58.440 --> 51:59.430
because I knew they were trying to get

51:59.430 --> 52:02.270
a store off the ground, and so we decided

52:02.270 --> 52:05.160
to invest in a bond, which are $500,

52:05.160 --> 52:06.660
and just to, you know, help out.

52:07.770 --> 52:09.310
And I saw them raising money all the time,

52:09.310 --> 52:11.330
so I had good faith that
it was gonna happen,

52:11.330 --> 52:12.650
and one day it just-- it happened.

52:12.650 --> 52:14.450
So now we work with the store

52:14.450 --> 52:16.000
as well as the farmers market.

52:22.410 --> 52:24.460
- My name's Debbie Nolan,

52:24.460 --> 52:27.300
I practice urban agriculture
in South Etobicoke.

52:27.300 --> 52:29.600
I grow on 1,400 square feet

52:29.600 --> 52:32.643
across three privately
owned properties, backyards.

52:36.140 --> 52:37.297
Last year, I can tell you,

52:37.297 --> 52:40.140
I grew three-quarters of a ton of produce,

52:40.140 --> 52:42.863
which is phenomenal for 1,400 square feet.

52:45.330 --> 52:46.570
A lot of people won't look at me

52:46.570 --> 52:50.270
because I'm too tiny, but
the West End Food Co-op,

52:50.270 --> 52:51.433
they're buying from me.

52:54.041 --> 52:56.080
You know exactly where
your food is coming from.

52:56.080 --> 52:57.940
They tell you if it's organic

52:57.940 --> 52:59.540
or if it's sustainably grown

52:59.540 --> 53:01.990
or if it's been treated with pesticides.

53:01.990 --> 53:04.330
You can't even get labeling,

53:04.330 --> 53:06.780
what's in your food in
the corporate food system.

53:18.040 --> 53:20.008
- So the West End Food Co-op,

53:20.008 --> 53:22.605
we're a multistakeholder co-op,
probably one of the first

53:22.605 --> 53:24.747
multistakeholder co-ops in Ontario.

53:25.745 --> 53:29.517
We were created in 2009,
specifically to address

53:30.697 --> 53:33.180
what the original members
thought was a dearth

53:33.180 --> 53:36.277
of democratic involvement
in the local food system.

53:39.458 --> 53:41.596
- Well, the neighborhood's
becoming a little bit gentrified,

53:41.596 --> 53:44.520
a little bit of a bar
and restaurant district,

53:44.520 --> 53:47.070
but at the same time we
still have a lot of people

53:47.070 --> 53:50.420
in the neighborhood who
are on a fixed income

53:50.420 --> 53:52.370
or have a very low income.

53:52.370 --> 53:55.950
Part of what we do is try and

53:55.950 --> 53:59.300
balance out the food
insecurity in the neighborhood.

54:02.640 --> 54:05.470
- So you might go to other
middle class neighborhoods

54:05.470 --> 54:08.820
in Toronto, and the
issues of new Canadians

54:08.820 --> 54:11.150
and the issues of people
living with addictions

54:11.150 --> 54:13.730
are not prevalent, people
aren't aware of them.

54:13.730 --> 54:16.020
People just living their
middle class lives.

54:16.020 --> 54:18.567
Well we also have a middle class
population here in Parkdale

54:18.567 --> 54:20.500
but it's not so insular,

54:20.500 --> 54:22.778
so everyone in Parkdale understands

54:22.778 --> 54:24.573
and appreciates Parkdale's diversity.

54:27.570 --> 54:30.660
- The main thing that we
do to address food security

54:30.660 --> 54:33.074
is actually through our
co-op credit program.

54:33.074 --> 54:36.828
We partner with a local
organization called PARC,

54:36.828 --> 54:40.211
and through this program
participants who usually

54:40.211 --> 54:43.560
are on a lower fixed
income for various reasons

54:43.560 --> 54:46.520
can work in community
gardens, or in a store,

54:46.520 --> 54:48.303
or at the farmers market

54:48.303 --> 54:50.670
or even with one of our
partner organizations,

54:50.670 --> 54:52.628
and they work to earn store credit.

54:52.628 --> 54:56.380
So in that way, we're almost paying people

54:56.380 --> 55:00.000
in access to local and sustainable food.

55:04.929 --> 55:06.490
- It's easy how the energy,

55:06.490 --> 55:09.164
the concept, the notion of solidarity,

55:09.164 --> 55:11.390
you can use that notion of solidarity

55:11.390 --> 55:15.467
as a small little engine to
jump-start a larger engine.

55:19.474 --> 55:22.032
[reverberating instrumental music]

55:34.849 --> 55:37.682
[classical piano music]

55:54.460 --> 55:56.160
- For a long time I've been concerned

55:56.160 --> 55:57.980
with the effects of inequality.

55:57.980 --> 56:01.726
I started off looking at
the big health differences

56:01.726 --> 56:05.520
between upper and lower
social classes in Britain

56:05.520 --> 56:07.589
and then other developed countries,

56:07.589 --> 56:10.420
and from there to looking at the effects

56:10.420 --> 56:14.708
of socioeconomic
inequality more generally.

56:14.708 --> 56:16.530
And what we've done is look at the scale

56:16.530 --> 56:19.100
of income differences,
the amount of inequality

56:19.100 --> 56:21.433
between rich and poor in each society,

56:22.576 --> 56:27.170
and how frequent a whole
range of social problems are,

56:27.170 --> 56:29.000
the social problems that are more common

56:29.000 --> 56:30.750
at the bottom of the social ladder.

56:32.000 --> 56:35.260
Those kinds of problems
are much more common

56:35.260 --> 56:37.903
in societies with bigger
income differences.

56:39.720 --> 56:41.830
The surprise is that they're more common

56:41.830 --> 56:45.663
not just amongst the poor, but
amongst the whole population.

56:46.910 --> 56:50.193
I think our societies are
in a real sort of crisis.

56:53.990 --> 56:56.110
- The neoclassical model
or the classical model

56:56.110 --> 56:58.930
of economics is based on the assumption

56:58.930 --> 57:01.820
that human beings are utility maximizers,

57:01.820 --> 57:05.350
selfish human beings, and
that they are responding

57:05.350 --> 57:07.098
to monetary incentives--

57:07.098 --> 57:08.840
always looking after our own interest.

57:09.765 --> 57:11.481
And by looking at our own interest

57:11.481 --> 57:13.490
we in fact do the best for society

57:13.490 --> 57:15.410
because then demand equals supply,

57:15.410 --> 57:17.523
and this is the basic theory.

57:19.270 --> 57:23.230
However, behavioral economists
in the past 20 years

57:23.230 --> 57:26.770
have shown many times
that we as individuals

57:26.770 --> 57:31.230
balance our self interest
and our social interest,

57:31.230 --> 57:33.410
and that actually that
balance is what we need

57:33.410 --> 57:36.900
to pursue in order to
actually have a balanced life.

57:36.900 --> 57:39.610
- Civilized society should be one

57:39.610 --> 57:41.760
that promotes as far as possible

57:41.760 --> 57:45.092
the giving, the gift, the harmonic,

57:45.092 --> 57:48.253
the cooperative side of our natures.

57:50.230 --> 57:52.200
- There's a nice experiment to give people

57:52.200 --> 57:56.170
a small amount of money
and you say, to this group,

57:56.170 --> 57:58.020
"Go and buy something for yourself."

57:58.020 --> 57:59.550
And you say to that group,

57:59.550 --> 58:01.453
"Go and buy something for someone else."

58:03.628 --> 58:05.120
And the ones told to buy something

58:05.120 --> 58:07.913
for somebody else gain more happiness.

58:10.430 --> 58:12.933
Gifts make friends and friends make gifts.

58:15.830 --> 58:18.930
Basically, you make these
huge social investments

58:18.930 --> 58:22.423
in other people to keep
relationships sweet.

58:27.510 --> 58:30.732
What we enjoy is that feeling

58:30.732 --> 58:33.080
of being relaxed with other people,

58:33.080 --> 58:37.520
but all these worries and
self-doubts, anxieties,

58:37.520 --> 58:39.330
cut us off from it.

58:39.330 --> 58:42.163
And it's actually crucial
to human well-being.

59:00.319 --> 59:02.700
- Today's event was the Christmas party.

59:02.700 --> 59:04.930
I was involved with the introduction here,

59:04.930 --> 59:06.880
with the singing and dancing and stuff.

59:08.832 --> 59:11.415
[vocables and rhythmic drumming]

59:15.238 --> 59:17.810
We wanted to showcase what
talent and what culture

59:17.810 --> 59:22.333
that we do have in here that
sometimes isn't utilized.

59:23.760 --> 59:25.590
I'm very happy that
today's event went well,

59:25.590 --> 59:29.623
and I'm hoping for more
successful events like this.

59:32.040 --> 59:33.840
I'm glad to see so many kids coming over.

59:33.840 --> 59:35.830
It was all about the
kids today, for myself,

59:35.830 --> 59:37.961
and it was good to see them.

59:40.153 --> 59:42.700
- We give them empowerment
through these drums,

59:42.700 --> 59:45.449
through our songs, through our actions.

59:45.449 --> 59:46.282
Remember that.

59:46.282 --> 59:47.498
We empower these young people.

59:47.498 --> 59:49.483
Whatever they see, that's what they do.

59:51.110 --> 59:52.220
So live a good life.

59:52.220 --> 59:53.863
Celebrate life in a good way.

59:57.440 --> 59:59.330
- This is our co-op family here today

59:59.330 --> 01:00:03.360
and you saw how it operate,
how we had fun together

01:00:03.360 --> 01:00:04.470
and we laughed together.

01:00:04.470 --> 01:00:06.570
We don't always see each other that often,

01:00:07.482 --> 01:00:09.240
but it's just like when you go home

01:00:09.240 --> 01:00:10.848
to visit on the reserve.

01:00:12.231 --> 01:00:14.031
It's like you never left.

01:00:17.210 --> 01:00:19.840
- There's always connections being made

01:00:19.840 --> 01:00:22.882
outside of our circle of our community

01:00:22.882 --> 01:00:24.520
and our circle of members.

01:00:24.520 --> 01:00:26.610
It just it's like a ripple effect.

01:00:26.610 --> 01:00:30.020
The more healthy that you
are as a housing cooperative,

01:00:30.020 --> 01:00:33.633
is going to send out more
of those healthy ripples.

01:00:37.840 --> 01:00:40.790
- So yeah, if we head back
over to the Root Cellar,

01:00:40.790 --> 01:00:44.963
we've been working on the
upstairs, the second story.

01:00:51.450 --> 01:00:55.823
We started the renovation
in October of 2015.

01:00:57.310 --> 01:01:01.610
So this space will be
more or less for 50 people

01:01:01.610 --> 01:01:06.610
with live music, so very
small-scale three, four-person act.

01:01:07.835 --> 01:01:12.832
When we look at a project and
there's environmental progress

01:01:12.832 --> 01:01:15.210
taking place, there's social
progress taking place,

01:01:15.210 --> 01:01:17.360
and a bit of fiscal progress taking place

01:01:17.360 --> 01:01:20.670
internally in the organization,
it is worth the time.

01:01:20.670 --> 01:01:23.040
So an endeavor like
this and the investment

01:01:23.040 --> 01:01:26.590
that it took to create it,
if all we were concerned with

01:01:26.590 --> 01:01:30.750
was a fiscal return, this
wouldn't have happened.

01:01:33.456 --> 01:01:37.039
[acoustic guitar and pedal steel music]

01:02:27.620 --> 01:02:28.830
- One of the really interesting things

01:02:28.830 --> 01:02:33.130
about this neighborhood is
there are poor people here,

01:02:33.130 --> 01:02:34.673
there's working class people.

01:02:36.623 --> 01:02:39.740
There's new millennials
who've got some money.

01:02:39.740 --> 01:02:42.533
So it's a really interesting
mix of neighborhoods.

01:02:44.130 --> 01:02:46.570
What we really need to be looking at is

01:02:46.570 --> 01:02:48.960
things growing organically
out of the community,

01:02:48.960 --> 01:02:51.030
working with the groups
we have in the community,

01:02:51.030 --> 01:02:53.600
whether it's labor unions, or churches,

01:02:53.600 --> 01:02:56.300
or if it's a university
or community college.

01:02:56.300 --> 01:02:58.740
You look at your inventory of resources

01:02:58.740 --> 01:03:02.000
in the community. of people and skills,

01:03:02.000 --> 01:03:04.410
and then you build those relationships

01:03:04.410 --> 01:03:07.270
that you've already got and
you build new relationships,

01:03:07.270 --> 01:03:09.971
and you get layers and
layers of community there.

01:03:09.971 --> 01:03:13.163
And then you grow the
worker co-ops out of that.

01:03:17.130 --> 01:03:18.970
- You know, I think
that the co-op movements

01:03:18.970 --> 01:03:23.340
reflect that people have
problems that sometimes

01:03:23.340 --> 01:03:25.530
they try to solve collectively.

01:03:25.530 --> 01:03:28.580
The great cooperative
farmers movements in Canada

01:03:28.580 --> 01:03:32.480
going back to the beginning
of the 20th century,

01:03:32.480 --> 01:03:36.670
when they realized that they
were being exploited horribly

01:03:36.670 --> 01:03:40.480
by the banks, by the
Canadian Pacific railways,

01:03:40.480 --> 01:03:43.383
by the merchants to whom
they brought their grain.

01:03:45.160 --> 01:03:50.040
They developed a ambition
to solve their problems

01:03:50.040 --> 01:03:53.690
by building their own
elevators, the farmers co-ops

01:03:53.690 --> 01:03:54.960
where they would take the grain.

01:03:54.960 --> 01:03:57.590
They'd know they weren't being cheated,

01:03:57.590 --> 01:04:00.050
have some control over the price.

01:04:00.050 --> 01:04:01.633
And that was impressive.

01:04:06.000 --> 01:04:09.303
They survived insofar as
they remained competitive.

01:04:10.972 --> 01:04:14.160
But, y'know, even to this
day the Harper government

01:04:14.160 --> 01:04:18.163
just undid the last great
accomplishment of these movements,

01:04:19.280 --> 01:04:24.005
you know, which was a common marketing

01:04:24.005 --> 01:04:25.713
of Canadian grain.

01:04:25.713 --> 01:04:27.550
And they did away with the Wheat Board.

01:04:27.550 --> 01:04:30.917
And that reflected a failure
of the co-op movement.

01:04:32.600 --> 01:04:36.290
We have to regain the
kind of understanding,

01:04:36.290 --> 01:04:38.590
through the new co-ops
that are created today,

01:04:40.780 --> 01:04:42.780
of why this is part of a bigger project.

01:04:45.753 --> 01:04:48.770
- There is a growing
movement that says that

01:04:48.770 --> 01:04:50.210
there has to be fundamental change

01:04:50.210 --> 01:04:52.170
in the way our society runs.

01:04:52.170 --> 01:04:53.500
There has to be fundamental change

01:04:53.500 --> 01:04:58.040
in the way that our values as human beings

01:04:58.040 --> 01:05:01.020
are manifested in both the economic model

01:05:01.020 --> 01:05:03.176
and the societal model.

01:05:03.176 --> 01:05:05.010
- Somehow this has to come together

01:05:05.010 --> 01:05:07.980
in coherent political organization,

01:05:07.980 --> 01:05:12.110
with a view to going into the
state and transforming it.

01:05:12.110 --> 01:05:14.390
See, it's the difficulty
of doing these things

01:05:14.390 --> 01:05:18.150
if you don't have the
type of political movement

01:05:18.150 --> 01:05:20.410
already in place

01:05:20.410 --> 01:05:24.800
that is building people's
desires and capacities

01:05:26.921 --> 01:05:31.921
to work, to consume, to
live in a different way.

01:05:33.810 --> 01:05:36.890
- The cooperative
movement says there's lots

01:05:36.890 --> 01:05:39.710
to go around, you know,
you just stand back,

01:05:39.710 --> 01:05:43.780
take a deep breath, and
realize that a healthy society

01:05:43.780 --> 01:05:45.113
is good for everybody.

01:05:46.170 --> 01:05:47.920
We have a different kind of society

01:05:47.920 --> 01:05:49.200
if we can care for each other,

01:05:49.200 --> 01:05:51.700
and that's what the
cooperative model is based on.

01:05:53.900 --> 01:05:57.120
- Once you get that sense
of the cooperative spirit

01:05:57.120 --> 01:06:00.510
of doing things for the love of it,

01:06:00.510 --> 01:06:04.760
for its own joy, you
have that firmly in you,

01:06:04.760 --> 01:06:08.940
that sense of cooperation
and doing things together.

01:06:08.940 --> 01:06:12.243
Then you'll know when not to cooperate,

01:06:13.680 --> 01:06:16.153
and that's an extremely important insight.

01:06:19.121 --> 01:06:21.270
- The challenge becomes for us

01:06:21.270 --> 01:06:26.027
how, as a global society

01:06:27.750 --> 01:06:32.723
we can work together to address
the issues that are arising.

01:06:34.310 --> 01:06:38.443
Cooperative is based upon principles.

01:06:38.443 --> 01:06:40.720
We all agree upon shared principles

01:06:40.720 --> 01:06:45.143
of working together, of
fairness, of equality,

01:06:46.524 --> 01:06:50.340
of social bonds that go
beyond private interests.

01:06:50.340 --> 01:06:52.730
And cooperatives also are involved

01:06:52.730 --> 01:06:55.290
in all sorts of different
economic sectors--

01:06:55.290 --> 01:06:59.270
in finance, production, distribution--

01:06:59.270 --> 01:07:01.333
and they're starting to work together.

01:07:04.136 --> 01:07:06.760
Cooperatives balance power,
and they bring people in

01:07:06.760 --> 01:07:08.623
and they allow them to participate.

01:07:09.480 --> 01:07:12.410
When people actually do
fall into cooperatives,

01:07:12.410 --> 01:07:16.470
usually by chance, it becomes
a complete revelation for them

01:07:16.470 --> 01:07:18.270
that things can be done differently.

01:07:19.399 --> 01:07:21.530
And that is, I think,
the most optimistic thing

01:07:21.530 --> 01:07:23.537
we can see in cooperatives.

01:07:40.915 --> 01:07:44.415
[light xylophone music]