Credit Unions

The Depression of the 1930s hit British Columbians hard. Overconfidence
in the 1920s made the lows of the 1930s seem even worse, and as
unemployment rates soared, banks began to pull out of small
communities. It was the intense desperation of this era that caused the
emergence of credit unions in British Columbia.

What are credit unions? Credit unions are defined as member-owned,
co-operative financial institutions, which were formed to encourage
savings by offering good interest rates, and using the collective money
deposited by members to make loans to members at low interest rates.

Before credit unions, small businesses as well as low-income
citizens had nowhere to save money and when in need had to rely on
family, friends or moneylenders for credit. Banks in the early 1900s
had no interest in small depositors or community loans. Gradually, with
influence from movements in Europe, eastern Canada and the U.S.A.,
innovators began discussing solutions to this problem. The movement in
Europe can be traced back to Germany where co-operative financing had
first been initiated during the 1840s to help rural farmers and
artisans improve their livelihoods. Closer to home, Alphonse Desjardins
opened up the first credit union in North America in Quebec in 1900.
Desjardins' caisses populaires, along with the Antigonish movement in
Nova Scotia, which boasted a successful and lively credit union
movement, demonstrated that co-operation was effective in the financial
sphere.

BCICS has many projects involving research into credit unions and caisse populaires. 

In 2006, Each for All Radio (BCICS' educational radio show on co-operatives) featured a month on the theme of credit unions. The collection of interviews from that month can be ordered here or you can listen online at the Each for All website. 

*More information for this section is coming soon.