We've Broken Faith with the Poor
There's not much we can really do about Iran, George W. Bush or the sabre rattling of North Korea but surely that doesn't absolve us from the obligation our poet placed upon our shoulders. Perfection is always the enemy of improvement and so it is here. For we should look at our own society and see the people with whom, in John McCrae's words, we've broken faith. Why is anyone impoverished in a country as rich as we are?

City incubator hatches culinary entrepreneurs
As newcomers to Canada in the late 1990s, India-born chef Hemant Tallur and his wife Minal dreamed of starting a food business that captures the ethnic diversity of Toronto. Their idea - signature dishes from India, the Caribbean and the Philippines packaged as ready-to-eat meals for the North American market - was a blend of his recipes and her expertise in food technology.

Social Economy is the Way of the Future
The international social economy is growing in importance, according to delegates at a recent local conference. The social economy operates outside of business and government. It includes charities, non-governmental organizations, and co-operatives. The first International Research Conference on the Social Economy brought more than 300 students, professors, researchers and practitioners to Victoria's Empress Hotel from Oct. 22 to 25.

The social economy at work: Delegates to a conference in Victoria hear of academic's role in changing the lives of impoverished Brazilian waste collectors
A UVic assistant professor is playing a bit part in changing the world's economic forces through garbage. Of course, Jutta Gutberlet objects to the word "garbage" used in the context of her work.

The social economy at work
A UVic assistant professor is playing a bit part in changing the world's economic forces through garbage. Of course, Jutta Gutberlet objects to the word "garbage" used in the context of her work. She's co-ordinator of a $1-million project in Brazil aimed at improving networks among 400 people who informally pick up waste, separate it, and then resell it.

World's First Research Conference on Social Economy
Changing how business is done is at the forefront of a four-day conference next week in Victoria, hosted by the University of Victoria’s BC Institute for Co-operative Studies (BCICS). “Strengthening and Building Communities: The Social Economy in a Changing World” is the first conference of its kind to bring academics and practitioners from around the globe together in an academic research setting.

BCSER Provides Feedback on Government Procurement

Today representatives of the BC Social Economy Roundtable participated in a dialogue session organized by the Ministry of Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) through their Office of Small and Medium Enterprises – Pacific Region.

Diving into the life of a binner: Exploring a scavenger's daily grind in the Downtown Eastside
Armed with a notepad and a tape recorder, Crystal Tremblay headed into the wilds to study exotic peoples. In her case, the wilds consisted of the untamed streets and alleys of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

Textbooks economical with words about co-ops
Jack Quarter, Daniel Schugurensky, Erica McCollum And Laurie Mook
A recent study conducted through the Social Economy Centre at the University of Toronto raises questions about the narrow focus of business and economics textbooks in Ontario’s high schools. The research by professor Daniel Schugurensky and MA student Erica McCollum of OISE/University of Toronto, examined the contents of 22 business textbooks containing 11,375 pages currently used in Ontario high schools.

The would-be madam of Victoria Jody Paterson used to write about prostitutes; now she plans to build a brothel, run by its workers. Former journalist plans to open Victoria brothel
She's run a newsroom at a daily newspaper but now she wants to build a co-op brothel, run by and for prostitutes. Jody Paterson chuckles when she considers the career change from managing editor to madame of Victoria.