Program starts on October 22, 2010. Deadline has been extended to OCTOBER 22ND.

In October 2007, a group of Canadians participated in a mission to study the health co-op system in Japan.  In light of success of this tour and the growing interest in Canada about the Hans Group Practice, another study tour will be organised from 24 to 30 October.

 ILO's mandate on Social and Solidarity  Economy   

The International Labour Office was given the mandate, by the International Labour Conference of 2010 in its Report of the Committee for the Recurrent Discussion, on “Employment and labour market policies to promote full, decent, productive and freely chosen employment” to set priority on:

We are excited to announce that the Program for the CoopZone Forum & CWCF Conference (attached) is now ready, and on-line registration is now open. The CoopZone Co-op Developers’ Forum is being held in conjunction with the CWCF Conference this year, including workshops, a strategy session and a developers’ caucus meeting – plus an invitation to participate in all CWCF plenary sessions.  The theme is “Worker Co-operatives and Sustainable Development”, and one of two keynote speakers is Peter Robinson, CEO of the David Suzuki Foundation and past CEO of Mountain Equipment Co-op. There will be many workshops of practical use to worker co-operators: from Accessing Capital, to Marketing, to sessions on environmental sustainability, as well as time for participants to choose their own topics in “open-space” workshops -- and more!  We have built in extra time for discussion among participants. As usual, there will be great opportunities for sharing and networking with other co-operators. It is being held from Thursday, October 28th to Saturday, October 30th, 2010 in Vancouver, B.C. at the YWCA Hotel.

We would like to encourage participants to register as soon as possible. To that end, we are offering an EARLY BIRD special for registering on or before September 16th. Save up to 20% (or at least $40) by taking advantage of the EARLY BIRD rate. To register, go to: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CWCF_CoopZone_2010. In the meantime, it would be helpful if you could indicate by e-mail if you are planning to attend the Conference. We have booked a block of rooms at the YWCA Hotel at very modest rates; to reserve those please go through our registration site. The number of rooms there is limited.