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ACL: Credit union must include small communities

"This is probably the best opportunity we've had in 15 years"

GREG YOUNGER-LEWIS

Greg O'Neil of Arctic Co-operatives Ltd. met last weekend with a group of Iqaluit residents who want to start a credit union. (PHOTO BY JEREMY GREGSON)

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Efforts to establish a credit union in Nunavut won't succeed unless several communities get on board the growing movement to create a credit union, a long-time co-op activist said last week.

Greg O'Neill, a consultant from Yellowknife who's been working at creating a northern credit union system for 15 years, met with more than 20 credit union supporters in Iqaluit last weekend.

During the meeting, he told the Iqaluit group to reach out to Nunavut's communities, if they wanted to convince the territory's decision-makers that they should support a credit union movement.

However, O'Neill, who handles credit union work for Arctic Co-operatives Ltd., which runs northern co-ops, was optimistic that the growing momentum behind creating a credit union in Nunavut would find support from communities.

"The stars are in line this time," O'Neill said with a smile while speaking at Parish Hall on Sept. 11.

"This is probably the best opportunity we've had in 15 years."

Iqaluit residents have taken a renewed interest in creating their own self-styled credit union since the Bank of Montreal announced it will be closing its doors in Nunavut in November.

But O'Neill described the bank closure as secondary to the strong interest that the Government of Nunavut and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. have shown since they signed an economic development strategy last year that recommended work on an alternative banking system for Nunavut.

As a result of the agreement, NTI's membership will vote in November about what kind of banking model they should use to fill the service gap in small communities. Senior NTI officials say the proposed model will especially focus on Inuit in the communities outside of the three big centres, Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet and Cambridge Bay.

Delegates with voting rights at the November annual general meeting will choose between three options, or a mix of them all. Currently, NTI and Atuqtuarvik, NTI's lending agency, are paying consultants to research whether they should form a new bank or trust company. (A bank is different from a credit union because banks don't share their profits with members. A trust company is similar to a bank, but handles estates and pension plans.)

O'Neill and other activists believe that Nunavummiut will push NTI to establish a credit union because they will want a financial institution that reflects co-op ideals. According to O'Neill, a credit union will meet the needs of Inuit in ways that the banks have not.

During his speech, O'Neill recalled how a bank wouldn't even look at a loan application from a unilingual Inuk in Cape Dorset in the late 1980s because the man didn't have a credit history to prove he was able to make loan payments.

Another credit union supporter talked about how a bank in Ontario rejected his loan application for a house because he was poor. This happened when he was a young father with two children and a pregnant wife. When he turned to a local credit union, they looked at his application, and gave their approval.

"That's what got us on our feet," said Capt. Ron McLean, now a minister at St. Jude's Anglican Church. "The banks wouldn't look at us. But the credit union was willing to look at us, as people."

Despite outlining the advantages of their cause, many credit union activists in Iqaluit agreed they won't find support from NTI unless the organization sees proof that a large number of residents from around the territory are backing them up.

The group already has a green light from the Government of Nunavut, which will support the credit union movement in every way but financially, according to Iqaluit East MLA Ed Picco.

In order for anyone to make a Nunavut credit union, the GN will have to update its legislation, inherited from the government of the Northwest Territories.

"I think a credit union option would work," Picco said during the meeting. "We're willing to do everything it takes, when it comes to [legislation and regulation]."

The group now plans to do a feasibility study to weigh the Nunavut-wide interest in having a credit union. However, supporters were skeptical about whether they can complete the study in time for the NTI meeting in November, as the group lacks funds and translators.

For more information about the credit union movement, phone Yvonne at (867)979-0777.

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