This year’s National CCENet Conference took place in the centre of North America, in the heart of the continent - for three days of learning, networking and celebration.

The theme of this year’s conference was Full Circle: Sharing a Vision for the 7th Generation. The inspiration was an original law kept and maintained by generations of Aboriginal people: just as our actions will affect generations to come, we are living in a world that was shaped by those before us. Aboriginal elders remind us to think and decide in a way that is conscious of the seven generations of people that will be born in the future - ensuring that we respect our Mother Earth and her spirited beings.

Hosted at the University of Winnipeg, this year’s conference included over 45 learning and information sharing sessions, as well as exciting site visits and networking opportunities. All plenary sessions and keynote addresses, as well as numerous workshops in each time slot, will have simultaneous translation into French and English for a tri-lingual learning and sharing experience.

Audio Files:

Social Economy Access to Finance: Demand, Barriers, and Gaps.

This session examined the challenges facing Social Economy Organizations that pursue external financing. It also reviewed results of a survey of both providers of financing and of SEOs as users of finance in Atlantic Canada. It discussed barriers to financing identified by the two sectors, and commented on urban/rural, sectoral, size, maturity, and jurisdictional differences.

• George Karaphillis, Atlantic Node, CSE Hub; CED Institute, CBU; BCA Investment Co-op
• Seth Asimakos, St. John Community Loan Fund; Canadian Community Investment Network Cooperative; Atlantic Social Economy Research Network
• David Alderson, Social Economy Access to Finance Project

Research from Practitioner/Academic Collaborations

Emphasizing studies from Aboriginal settings, this workshop presented three to six on-going research projects that feature collaboration between university-based researchers and practitioners. The presenters examined problems encountered when using real-life situations for research.

• Rupert Downing, CCEDNet
• Stewart Perry, CSE Hub
• Dr. Wanda Wuttannee
• Christine Sy, Algoma University and N.Ont/Mb/Sk.Node
• Nadine Pinnell, Simon Fraser University and BALTA Node
• Isobel M.Findlay and Maria Bausaldo, University of Saskatchewan and N.Ont/Mb/Sk Node