Examples of Cooperative Development Policy Agenda & Achievements from British Columbia, Canada

Join us for a workshop with Jonny Sopotiuk (he/him), Managing Director of the Union Cooperative Initiative in Vancouver, British Columba, Canada.

The workshop will introduce the Union Cooperative Initiative (UCI) development and incubation model organizing precarious gig workers and will focus on the policy and legislative agenda of the UCI and cooperative development allies with various levels of government in British Columbia. It will cover the legal and regulatory environment, history of cooperative development in British Columbia from a policy and legislative standpoint, recent achievements in the cooperative development ecosystem, as well as future policy, campaign, and legislative goals.

More context:


British Columbia (BC) is the third largest province in Canada with a population of 5.71 million residents (2019 census). At 364,764 square miles, the total geography of the province is larger than the states of Washington, Oregon, and California combined.

BC is a coastal province with less than 5 people per square km. The province is home to over 200 First Nations communities and large Chinese, Punjabi, German, Italian, and Russian communities. The largest regional district of Vancouver is home to almost half of the province’s population.

In 2017, the New Democratic Party (NDP), Canada’s version of the Labour Party, formed a minority government through a confidence and supply agreement with the Green Party, ending almost 2 decades of rule by the free enterprise and conservative government. In 2020, a snap election call resulted in an NDP-majority government forming with 57 of the 87 seats in the provincial legislature.

MCLE credit in California will be offered.