Just and joyful: Gathering together in Nanaimo
Bringing people together is at the core of our purpose for Sunflower: to welcome and nurture community participation so we can co-create just and joy-filled spaces. We are very grateful to Canadian Worker Co-op Federation for sponsoring our Worker’s Co-op Gathering in Nanaimo, BC on Vancouver Island, the traditional territories of the Snuneymuxw peoples. It felt very special to welcome all of the worker’s coops with ties to the area to come together, along with some folks who are organizing and curious about cooperatives.
Sixteen people from five co-ops joined us at Black Rabbit Kitchen, including:
- Yeomen Tree Service Cooperative
- Weaver Digital Design + Storytelling
- GIA Consulting Co-op
- Sunflower Facilitation & Counselling Co-op
- South End Eco-Development (a non-profit co-op in Nanaimo).
Black Rabbit Kitchen provided a warm welcome and delicious food in their attic gathering space.
Good conversation
We offered some written prompts for conversation on each table. Once everyone had a chance to mingle and enjoy some food, we invited folks to move between the tables at their own pace to engage in deeper conversation on these themes:
- Coming into this, I’m feeling/noticing…
- What inspires me about worker’s cooperatives is…
- One way we are educating our members about co-ops (or hope to) is…
- A courageous conversation I hope we can have one day is…
- We work for the sustainable development of our communities by…
- A way I am glimpsing we might cooperate together (think of all of us present) is…
- Something I hope to follow-up on after this gathering is….
Time to reflect
We are honoured and grateful that Secwepemc Elder Mike Arnouse, who was visiting from Adams Lake, offered some reflections on our collective work and purpose in care of the land and each other. Uncle Mike encouraged us to think of our work in relation to encouraging health as alignment of mind, heart, body and spirit. He emphasized the importance of gathering around food and providing food for the people. His words brought a palpable shift in energy, as we all reflected more deeply on what brought us to our purpose as worker’s cooperatives.
From these conversations, Sunflower is deepening into the reflective season of winter to consider our responsibilities as we weave together this understanding of health, care of the land, and each other with co-operative principles of concern for the community, shared learning, and cooperation among cooperatives.
