Nunavik co-ops take first loans from new fund

The FCNQ’s main office in the South, shown here, is located in Baie d’Urfé on Montreal’s West Island. (PHOTO COURTESY OF THE FCNQ)

Nunavik’s Fédération des Co-opératives du Nouveau-Québec — known as Ilagiisaq in Inuktitut — has approved its first loans under the Nunavik Co-operative Development Fund, a fund geared towards financing construction projects in the region’s communities.

At a recent meeting of the FCNQ’s board of directors, the board approved $4.8 million in funds for construction projects in Ivujivik, Tasiujaq, Quaqtaq, Kuujjuaq, Kangirsujuaq and Kuujjuaraapik.

Three of those communities — Quaqtaq, Kuujjuaq and Kuujjuaraapik — will use the money to expand or build new co-op stores, while Kangiqsujuaq’s former co-op store is being converted into a new 14-room hotel.

“The start of loans from the Nunavik Cooperative Development Fund will see interest from funds remain in Nunavik and allow cooperatives to develop their projects,” said the FCNQ in a Nov. 11 release.

The fund was first created under the Quebec Liberal government’s Plan Nord in 2011, received a $5 million interest-free boost in 2013 from the Parti Québécois government.

Thanks to contributions from other regional organizations, the fund is now worth $15 million.

Sixty per cent of the new fund is geared towards the FCNQ’s infrastructure: the remaining 40 per cent goes to sealift funding.

At the recent board meetings Nov. 5 to Nov. 7, the FCNQ also reported an increase of 4.5 per cent in revenue from last year from all projects operated by its 14 co-operatives.

The FCNQ, owned by its 14 member co-ops, considers itself the largest non-government employer in Nunavik, with more than 260 full-time and 50 seasonal employees in the region and another 120 full-time employees in the Montreal area who work for retail stores, hotels, restaurants, tourism, financial services, construction projects and fuel delivery business.

In 2013, the FCNQ’s 14 member co-ops brought in combined revenues of $89 million.

At the FCNQ’s annual general meeting held in Kangirsuk this past April, its board of directors unanimously approved a return of $9.8 million to co-operative members.