So, you do work hard and you catch a lot of fish. However, you only have one company to sell them to. You have to get your boat, nets and fishing gear from “the Company.” You get most of the other things you need from the Company, too, such as flour. The Company says how much your fish is worth. It also says how much the boats, nets and other things cost. The cost of the things you need always seems to be a little more than the money you get for your fish. You are very poor and there appears to be no way to change that. How would you feel?

The Company was the Robin, Jones and Whitman Company. It was owned by men from the Isle of Jersey. The fishermen struggled but they couldn’t get ahead.

A Solution is Found

Finally, in 1915, they found a solution. They formed a co-operative. A co-operative is a business organization that is owned by its members. By owning the company, the people would have some control over the price of fish and the cost of things they needed. This way, they could get a larger share of the profits that had once gone to the Company.

This was the first co-operative, or co-op, in North America. In the years that followed, the people of Chéticamp formed many others. Examples are: the credit union, the food store, a youth employment co-op, an insurance co-op, a handicraft co-op and a fish processing co-op.