Background

Beginnings: The creation of the Guy-Bernier Chair in Cooperative Business

On January 27, 1987, the Guy-Bernier Chair in Cooperation Chair was born, a joint effort by Guy Bernier, then President and Chief Executive Officer of the Fédération des caisses populaires Desjardins de Montréal and l’Ouest-du-Québec (FMO), Marcel A. Gagnon, Director General of the UQAM Foundation and Claude Corbo, Rector of the Université du Quebec à Montreal.

Adopting an innovative collaborative strategy, Bernier, Gagnon and Corbo pooled their respective institutions’ resources to provide the university community and the larger cooperative movement with a first-class tool for development.

Five months later, In June of 1987, the Chair commenced its initial research and teaching activities.

The challenge was enormous and the first year was difficult. The first order of business was to shine a light on the cooperative movement, which had theretofore existed in relative obscurity.

Indeed, the first to-do list was a long one: Gain and maintain the interest of department directors, professors and researchers, establish a clear vision of how the Chair would function, and ensure that initial projects flourished and were successfully completed.

Today, the Chair pursues broad social, cultural and economic objectives, in keeping with its general guiding principles – but also, as they arise, specific concerns expressed by the Federation, the “Caisses” and the wider cooperative movement.

The Chair functions as a joint partnership between the Federation des Caisses Populaire, Foundation UQAM, and UQAM itself.

As such, the Chair’s activities are determined not only by the University. A joint steering committee establishes and evaluates the work of the Chair and guides its activities.

Indeed, the Chair, from its inception, is inherently interdisciplinary, and elicits the contribution of a wide range of university disciplines. It is part of the School of Management Sciences at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM).