Credit union believers gather at Parish Hall

Meeting tomorrow will show grass-roots interest in made-in-Nunavut bank

By NUNATSIAQ NEWS

GREG YOUNGER-LEWIS

Supporters of a credit union for Nunavut plan to come out in force this weekend to show “the bigger players” in the territory that Nunavummiut want a credit union more than any other banking alternative.

Recent comments from the government of Nunavut’s economic development minister, and the president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., have increased the pressure on the territory’s revived credit union movement to show big funders that they have the popular appeal to succeed, where former efforts failed.

During an interview last month, Minister David Simailak put the onus on grassroots volunteers to build a Nunavut credit union from scratch, without immediate government backing. Similarly, NTI president Paul Kaludjak emphasized in an interview that his organization was considering whether creating a Nunavut bank or trust company would be better solutions to the communities’ day-to-day financial needs.

Both the GN and NTI signed an agreement last year to create a community savings and loans network, such as a credit union.

“They need to see that there’s a real community interest in moving forward with the credit union option,” said Yvonne Earle, an organizer of tomorrow’s meeting in Iqaluit.

“We want them to see that this [the credit union] is the one that’s popular with the people in the community.”

Most credit unions work much like a co-op. Instead of being a client to a bank, Nunavummiut would be members of a credit union, and receive their share of any of the institution’s profit. Bank clients do not usually share in any annual profit.

The movement to create a made-in-Nunavut credit union found new life after the Bank of Montreal announced in June that it will pull out of Nunavut later this year. The national bank enjoys hundreds of millions of dollars in profits every three months, but says it can’t make enough money in Nunavut to justify staying.

The bank’s pending departure brought together a core group of volunteers who believe credit unions will put the needs of Nunavummiut before profits. Activists like Earle say a credit union will be different than banks, by keeping its profits in the communities, focusing more on local economic development, and helping small businesses.

To step up support for the movement, Earle has invited residents of communities from around the territory to tomorrow’s open public meeting in Iqaluit.

Efforts to start a credit union in the mid-1990s stalled when the GN and NTI balked at funding a multi-million-dollar drive spearheaded by the Arctic Co-operatives Ltd., which runs the co-op stores around Nunavut.

Greg O’Neill, a consultant with ACL, will be giving a workshop at tomorrow’s meeting to talk about the practical steps needed to form a credit union.

O’Neill expected volunteers will likely find support in several communities, such as Pond Inlet, Cape Dorset, and Gjoa Haven, where residents even deposited money in a trust account in the mid-1990s to help start the new institution.

However, O’Neill said even if that community support exists, volunteers still have to do their best to build up a territory-wide support base.

“You can’t go and drop a credit union from the sky onto a community,” O’Neill said from Yellowknife. “There has to be interest at the community level.”

The meeting begins at 1:30 p.m. at the Anglican Parish Hall in Iqaluit, tomorrow (Sept. 11).

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

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