What is CASC?

CASC is:

A multidisciplinary network of researchers and practitioners whose work involves co-
operatives and co-operation.

Key activities include:

  • Promoting research on and education about co-operatives and co-operation broadly understood to include, but not limited to: Fair Trade, Social Economy, Solidarity Economies, and formal and informal alternative economic organizations governed by mutuality.
  • Facilitating partnerships and linkages with other organizations, governments, institutions, co-operatives, and individuals interested in co-operatives and co-operation
  • Promoting inclusivity and diversity in research and education about co-operatives and co-operation
  • Hosting annual conferences at the Congress of the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences and occasional congresses in partnership with the International Co-operative Alliance Committee on Co-operative Research (ICA-CCR), Association of Co-operative Educators (ACE), CIRIEC Canada, Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada, and other research centres and provincial assocations.

CASC activities linking people nationally and internationally are supported by the following memberships and partnerships:

  • Membership, Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada (CMC)
  • Membership, Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences
  • Partnership with the Journal of Co-operative Studies in the UK to distribute the journal in Canada
  • Elected delegate on the ICA-CCR
  • Partnership with the Canadian Centre for the Study of Co-operatives, University of Saskatchewan, host of the CASC Secretariat
  • Partnerships with IRECUS; St. Mary’s International Centre of Co-operative Management (ICCM); Centre of Excellence in Accounting and Reporting of Co-operatives (CEARC); Centre for Learning, Social Economy and Work (CLSEW), Ontario Institute for the Study of Education, University of Toronto
  • Partnership with the Association for Nonprofit and Social Economy Research (ANSER) – cohosting conference sessions, annual banquets
  • Sponsorship of annual CASC Scholarships administered by CMC
  • Partnership with Co-operative Development Foundation of Canada (CDF) and CMC to establish the Ian MacPherson Legacy Fund: Education – Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada