In January of this year the first IC edition of the Annual Survey of Canadian Co-operatives would have arrived in your co-op’s mailbox. This survey provides researchers and policy makers an up to date portrait of the co-operative economy in Canada, and has historically had an excellent response rate of close to 70%. As IC begins its role in helping the co-operative economy to flourish, we at Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada (CMC) want to encourage as many co-ops as possible to respond and help us improve on that 70% figure.
The information collected is used to generate the Co-operatives in Canada annual publication. It is the only national source of information on non-financial co-operatives in Canada and is essential to providing a true portrait of co-operatives across the country.
Co-operatives will be asked to complete the annual survey for both 2011 and 2012. This will enable Industry Canada to prepare up-to-date information on the sector and publish the 2010 to 2012 Annual Survey reports over the course of 2014.
We encourage all co-ops to complete and return the survey as quickly as possible so that Co-operatives in Canada can be made available sooner and have a timely positive impact. This published data demonstrates the positive impacts co-operatives have socially and economically and should be thought of as part of our commitment to co-operative principles 5, 6 and 7.
Co-operatives in Quebec and Nova Scotia will not have received the survey as their information is collected by their provincial governments and shared with IC for inclusion in the Co-operatives in Canada publication.