lasting sustainable development taking action · and agroforestry) while...

1

Lasting Sustainable

DevelopmentTaking Action

3

four opTionS ThAT bring uS TogeTher

The economic crisis now raging around the world awa-

kens a measure of solidarity within us. Under these trying

circumstances, people are looking for a financial institu-

tion that uses its capital to serve humanity, and not the

other way around. That is why so many have joined the

Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins.

In 2008, our membership increased by 14 per cent and

half of all new members clearly stated that they chose the

Caisse because of its mission. This is especially true with

the young generation. For the third consecutive year, half

of all new members are under the age of 35.

As Quebec’s main financial institution specializing in

social and solidarity economy, the Caisse d’économie

solidaire works alongside 9,000 individual members and

2,700 cooperatives, non-profit organizations and socially

committed private companies. The financial support it

offers is made possible thanks to the savings of a multi-

tude of socially conscious associations, labor unions and

citizens who are looking for guidance in the field of social-

ly responsible investments. With assets reaching more

than $ 450 million as of December 31st, 2008, the Caisse

generates a business volume of over $ 900 million.

By 2008, more than a third of its loan portfolios were

devoted to collective housing projects of five dwellings or

more. In the cooperative sector, three of the major ambu-

lance cooperatives in Quebec and a quarter of all funeral

cooperatives do business with the Caisse d’économie

solidaire because of its belief in innovative projects.

No less than $ 25 million a year is spent on financing for

cultural organizations. $ 139 million goes towards coope-

rative enterprises; $ 100 million to community groups,

$ 8 million to labor unions and $ 98 million to individuals.

Over the past four years, the Fund for Environmental

Development has redistributed $ 5 million in donations

and sponsorships to its members.

On the following pages, we have presented some of the

collective accomplishments, solidarity interventions and

innovative practices to which the Caisse is committed.

As the first Brundtland Partner Institution in the financial

services sector, the Caisse d’économie solidaire proposes

to measure wealth by means of our organization’s four

options: community life, the environment, solidarity and

democracy.

These four options make up both the departure point from

which our first impulses to take action spring as well as

the destination we dream about and are committed to

reaching.

With this vision in mind, our projects remain full of pro-

mise and solidarity even in the midst of the economic

crisis we see all around us.

Gérald Larose

President

Paul Ouellet

General Coordinator

2

5

CommuniTy LifeThe Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins acknowledges that a society based upon fairness and solidarity is held together by mutual respect and acceptance. Access to food, housing, health, education and culture is a fundamental right of every human being. Our actions and passion are guided by people and projects geared towards social transformation.

ex machina

United by extending our boundaries

Ex Machina is Robert Lepage’s multidisciplinary company behind The Image Mill. Created to celebra-te Québec’s 400th anniversary, this audio-visual pro-duction was projected against the grain silos in the Port of Québec. The huge concrete structure became a narrator recounting the tale of Québec City’s 400 years of history. The 81 silos measuring 600 meters long by 30 meters high formed the largest projection of its kind.

The Image Mill drew close to one million viewers and was a way for us to revisit our past, celebrate our history and reinforce our common heritage and values. Projections of this magnitude, including the technological expertise required, have drawn atten-tion from around the world.

The Caisse d’économie solidaire has seen Ex Machina grow from its humble beginnings in 1993. ‘‘We have been fortunate enough to do business with people who actually listen and understand where we are coming from. Their sense of imagination is truly exceptional seeing as they are a financial institution’’ states Jean-Pierre Vézina, Vice-President of finances for Ex Machina.

www.lacaserne.net

4 The

Imag

e M

ill b

y R

ober

t Lep

age

and

Ex M

achi

na. P

hoto

s th

is p

age

and

foll

owin

g pa

ge: a

ll ri

ghts

res

erve

d, ©

2008

, by

Fran

cis

Vach

on.

7

Saint-James united Church

Upholding our collective heritage

The Caisse d’économie solidaire has participated in recapturing the former glory of one of Quebec’s reli-gious heritage buildings, situated on Sainte-Catherine Street west in Montreal. Dating back to 1888, St. James United Church is listed as a national historic site of Canada.

The exterior of the church’s Victorian neo-gothic style and the interior’s Akron style amphitheatre with its choir loft make St. James a unique Montreal landmark. Commercial buildings erected in front of the church over 80 years ago have finally been demolished and St. James is once again open to the busy street-life of Montreal.

While maintaining its spiritual calling, St. James has become home to a variety of outreach programs and community organizations. The Caisse is committed to social and environmental change while protecting our collective history and as such, contributes towards having this valuable heritage site belong to the entire community.

www.stjamesunitedchurchmontreal.com

missinak

Reclaimed self-esteem

In the Québec City area, Missinak proudly opened its doors in 2009 as the first shelter geared towards helping distraught native women and children in an urban area. In addition to providing protection and respite from the many worries they face, Missinak is a place of healing, reflecting and intercultural exchange for these women.

In the year 2000, Penelope Guay and Nathalie Nika Guay, two Innu women from Mashteuiatsh on the shores of Lac Saint-Jean, founded Missinak, a commu nity house supporting isolated or impoverished women in Quebec. In the Innu language, Missinak is a turtle, the grand master of all aquatic animals who helps people go back to market after having experien-ced famine. Just like Missinak, the people responsible for this project want to help native women overcome their difficulties and regain their pride, self-esteem and above all, their dignity.

Nicole Morin, Advisor for collective enterprises with the Caisse d’économie solidaire reminds us that: ‘‘We share the values of these women who put human beings with all their dignity, personal development and growth at the heart of their daily actions.’’

www.missinak.org

6 phot

o: É

mili

e To

ugas

phot

o: L

uigi

Luz

io

ConTACT

Lasting development, ecological engineering laboratory CONTACT is a solidarity cooperative situated in Saint-Elzéar, in the Gaspésie region. Its purpose is to encourage people to act responsibly by adopt-ing concrete applications of sustainable and lasting development. To reach its ambitious goals, three sepa-rate divisions have been created: CONTACT-Signature, CONTACT-Nature and CONTACT-Innovation.

CONTACT–Signature is an agroforestry biomass valuation centre. Its fifteen employees use local raw materials to manufacture ecological products such as cedar gutters, larch shingles, and suspended wood ceilings.

CONTACT-Nature plans to establish an eco-tourist destination of the future that will serve as a techno-logy showcase for sustainable development. Tourists will stay in computer écological ecological homes. They will learn how to cook using local ingredients, get around in green vehicles and learn how to produce biofuel and other earth friendly components.

CONTACT–Innovation is a research action committee made up of experts from Universities, research centres and specialized firms, etc. Its mission is to fine tune technological innovations based on sustainable development and thus promote socio-economic growth.

www.contactfutur.com

eCoLogyAt the Caisse, we view water, air, nature, bio-diversity and the human genome as inaliena-ble. We are committed to the development of a fair, humane and ecologically sound economy. We propose to change the commonly held view towards money, consumption and produc-tion in support of favorable activities so as to preserve our world for future generations.

9 8 Pho

tos

this

pag

e an

d pr

evio

us p

age:

Dyl

an P

age

brundtland Schools

Implanting environmental thinking in Nunavik Being the first Brundtland Partner Institution within the financial services sector, the Caisse d’économie solidaire is proud to contribute, along with the sup-port of the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ), towards the development of the Établissements verts Brundtland network of schools in Nunavik.

Students from the Kativik School Board are given social recognition and the tools to help them make a difference. A dialogue based on solidarity, democracy, pacifism and ecological awareness is thus created. In the North, solidarity is lived within the traditions of the fishing and hunting community; democracy is expressed through school and band councils; pacifism is advocated in sports such as hockey, and ecological awareness encourages schools to meet the challenge of recycling equipment heading South using the same boats carrying basic commodities to the North. As of September 2009, a trilingual activities package will be distributed to schools throughout the fourteen communities. The CSQ also wishes to benefit from the latest education reform to create partnerships between schools helping young people in both the North and South to better understand their respective realities. By means of Brundtland projects, the CSQ wishes to embrace Victor Hugo’s famous words: ‘‘today’s utopia is tomorrow’s reality’’.

www.evb.csq.qc.ca

The Lanaudière network for Sustainable Development (rADDL) The Lanaudière Network for Sustainable Development is unique in Quebec. Its agents come up with aware-ness-raising tools and information in order to provide sustainable development training geared towards members of the community, including its citizens.

As members of this network, developmental agents of the Regional Municipality of Matawinie have put together three commissions (housing, environment and agroforestry) while Sainte-Émilie-de-l’Énergie has reserved areas for non-motorized vehicles, offers medical services and is battling the school drop-out rate. Within the Regional Municipality of Autray, Ville Saint-Gabriel is committed to revitalizing the envi-ronment while Lavaltrie is contributing towards the opening of La Chasse-Gallery, a cultural coffee house, as well as the development of a pedestrian promenade on the edge of the river and the refurbishing of area parks. Six of the seven municipalities encompassed in the Regional Municipality of Joliette are working to halt the exodus of their aging population.

To date, fourteen Municipalities and two Regional Municipalities of Lanaudière have embraced sustaina-ble development by integrating social, economic, envi-ronmental and cultural dimensions into their projects.

11

phot

o: É

ric

Lar

oche

13

solidarity Action fund

Labor union support for security agents of la Société des casinos du Québec The Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins approved a solidarity loan to 190 security agents of the Montreal Casino who were locked out on August 27th 2008. The Caisse was in a position to do so thanks to its Collective Solidarity Action Fund which has received contributions from CSN labor unions.

‘‘This loan is essential to our fight’’ says Pierre Gauthier, Union Treasurer. ‘‘As for the terms and conditions, the Caisse shows a flexibility that would not be found in any other financial institution.’’ Among other things, the Solidarity Action Fund assumes nearly a third of incurred interest. The Caisse offered the union the possibility of staggering reimbursement beginning at the end of the conflict, until March 2011.

www.csn.qc.ca

SoLiDAriTyThe Caisse places solidarity at the epicenter of its together-in-action mentality which is the driving force behind the search for the good of all mankind. Through our collective capability of generating resources and our link to important social movements, we believe solidarity will serve to create a more democratic, more just and more equal society both here and abroad.

12 phot

o: L

uc P

arla

vecc

hio

phot

o: M

iche

l Gir

oux

15

buffet Accès emploi

Professional insertion development In the Lanaudière region, the social insertion organiza-tion Buffet Accès Emploi helps young adults re-enter the workforce. They now train twice as many students in the culinary arts as previously expected.

In 2007-2008, four out of every five trainees within the 51 person program either found a job or went on to pursue their education. Buffet Accès Emploi’s mission is clear when we learn that the average age of their students is 25 years old and that over half have a secondary three education at best.

The Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins stepped in to help meet the needs of these brave young people. The Caisse, which lends a hand to one third of all 49 insertion groups in Quebec, along with its partners from the Lanaudière region, has completed a financial arrangement of $1.2 million enabling Buffet Accès Emploi to triple its existing facilities. This financing covers the cost of land in Saint-Lin-Laurentides as well as the construction of a new commercial kitchen and shop which will provide catering services and specialty food items under the banner Nature Gourmande.

Buffet Accès Emploi’s Director, Darllie Pierre-Louis says that with the help of its partners, the organization is heading towards its greatest success in its ten year history.

www.bae.qc.ca

DesÉquilibres

Helping youths find their way

In October 2008, seven participants from youth centres faced their most grueling physical challenge ever by taking part in a relay race between Sept-Îles and Natashquan. The race was supervised by volunteers and workers from DesÉquilibres, a solidarity cooperative.

‘‘What a powerful symbolism! These youngsters had to step out of their comfort zone and cross over into mostly unknown territory. They met the challenge by pushing their physical, psychological and social comfort to the limit’’ said Luc Parlavecchio, General Manager of the coop.

Also, in 2007, nine young people were recognized by the National Assembly for having run 250 kilometers between Montreal and Québec.

The Caisse d’économie solidaire is pleased to offer $10,000 in scholarships to the young people of DesÉquilibres. This will allow them to organize their latest sports related endeavor and motivate them to pursue their goal towards healthy self esteem.

http://desequilibres.org

14

phot

o: A

mél

ie H

unea

ult

phot

o: L

uc P

arla

vecc

hio

17

DemoCrACyThe Caisse considers the world, our societies, our workplace and organizations as projects to be built together based on the belief that we should all have a say in our personal and collective development. This option determines the internal functioning of the Caisse as well as its relationship with its partners.

The Québec Community housing fund

Offering low cost housing The Fonds québécois d’habitation communautaire (Québec Community Housing Fund commonly known by its French acronym FQHC), a non-profit orga-nization, was created in 1997, following the 1996 Summit on the Economy and Employement. Its role is to coordinate the efforts of communities, munici-palities, financial institutions and government depart-ments with a view to encouraging the production of social and community housing.

With this in mind organizations having benefited from government funding including programs such as AccèsLogis, Logement abordable, social and community sectors, or PARCO are now encouraged to contribute to the financing of the Fund. It is esti-mated that the FQHC collected over $1.7 million in capital in 2009, an amount capable of reaching over $132 million by 2017. The majority of this funding will allow the FQHC to offer advantageous loans to cooperatives and non-profit organizations in order to continue development, consolidation and main-tenance of quality constructed low cost community housing projects.

Andrée Richard, Fund Coordinator has this to say: ‘‘Here at the Québec Community Housing Fund, we chose to work with the Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins because of its active involvement in our projects and its encouragement over the course of many years of planning and development.’’

www.fqhc.qc.ca

16 phot

o: Iv

an B

inet

phot

o: O

BN

L M

ainb

ourg

19

ethical investor test

To invest is to vote

The Caisse d’économie solidaire has designed a test aimed at ethical investors. During preparation of a member’s portfolio, the new Ethical Investor Test takes into account investor profile and asks questions to determine the motivation behind socially responsi-ble investments. A survey conducted in July 2008 for Desjardins by Som confirmed that more than two out of three Quebecers showed interest in socially respon-sible investments and that one in two were thinking of investing part of their savings.

What do you want from your savings? Do you wish to invest in the social economy? Do you wish to influence companies to be more socially responsible? Do you want to encourage ecologically sound undertakings? These are a few of the questions posed in the Ethical Investor Test which will allow us to offer a portfolio matching the client’s views while taking into account both their financial needs and their set of values.

‘‘What I appreciate most about the Caisse d’économie solidaire is the research behind the answers to our many questions. We are told up what front our money is being used for‘‘ says Laure Waridel who is not only a member of the Caisse but also a spokesperson for our campaign promoting socially responsible investments.

participating in sustainable development

The Desjardins Group recognizes that the Caisse d’économie solidaire is a leader in the field of sustainable development and social economy. That is why, in keep-ing with its strategic planning, Paul Ouellet, General Coordinator of the Caisse d’économie solidaire, was chosen in 2008 as co-leader for the committee aimed at social responsibility and sustainable development.

The committee, chaired by Pauline D’Ambroise, Secretary General of the Fédération des caisses Desjardins du Québec, was made up of eight other General Managers and three representatives of Desjardins subsidiaries. Its mandate: agree to the distinct approach of Desjardins in terms of social responsibility and sustainable development. The experience was a positive one. Desjardins has reques-ted that Paul Ouellet contribute, along with eigh-teen other General Managers within the Desjardins network of caisses and business centres, towards the preparation of the strategic planning for the 2010-2012 period.

18

20

Nunavik Service Centre155 East, Charest Blvd., Suite 500Québec (QC) G1K 3G6Phone 418.647.1527Fax 418.647.2051Toll free 1.877.647.1527

www.nunavikfinancialservices.coop

Québec Service Centre155 East, Charest Blvd., Suite 500Québec (QC) G1K 3G6Phone 418.647.1527Fax 418.647.2051Toll free 1.877.647.1527

Montréal Service Centre 2175 East, de Maisonneuve Blvd., Suite 150Montreal (QC) H2K 4S3Phone 514.598.2122Fax 514.598.2496Toll free 1.877.598.2122

Lanaudière Service Centre190, Montcalm StreetJoliette (QC) J6E 5G4Phone 450.753.7055Fax 450.752.5589

Toll free 1.866.753.7055

www.caissesolidaire.coop

We Care For Our ForestsThis document was printed on 100% post consumer paper from the Quebec urban forest, thus reducing our ecological footprint by 0,1 tree, 6 kilos of solid waste, 579 liters of water (equivalent to a shower lasting 1 hour) and 14 kilos of air emissions. Graphic concept by Brunel Design.