SAORSIE CO-OPERATIVE HOMES INC.
What is a Co-op?
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Co-operatives (or "co-ops") are legally incorporated organizations owned by their members who use their services or purchase their products. Co-ops can provide virtually any product or service, and can be either non-profit or for-profit enterprises. The co-operative sector keeps dollars circulating within the local economy, provides secure employment and is a means to revitalize and sustain healthy communities.

As its name implies, a co-operative is people coming together to meet a common need. Possessing a high degree of collective entrepreneurship, the co-operative business enterprise model is inherently ethical in its treatment of its members, employees, suppliers and the environment. Co-ops serve a range of sectors, including housing, food, worker, agriculture, service, financial, youth, aboriginal and community. There are 1,300 independent and autonomous co-operatives in Ontario, with 1,900 locations in 400 communities.
Co-ops as Businesses
A co-op is a business that is democratically controlled by its members, who own it and benefit economically from its services.
In housing co-ops, the benefit is quality housing at the best possible price for the members. Co-ops meet member's social and cultural needs as well.
Co-ops are different from businesses that exist just to make money for their owners or managers. Co-op are first and foremost about people and they are founded on a unique set of principles.
Co-operative Beginnings
Early co-ops were created as a way to protect working people who were forced to buy from or trade with powerful business interests on terms that were very unfair. As people began to look for better ways to meet their needs and overcome an unjust system they found the solution was to join forces, buy things together and meet each other's needs mutually and co-operatively.
Co-operative Principles
The co-operative principles are based on values of honesty, openness, fairness, respect and democratic control. While co-ops provide economic benefits, their ultimate purpose is to meet the needs of people in an ethical, socially responsible way.
Our Philosophy
Saorsie is a non profit housing co-operative in Brantford, Ontario. Our goal is to create and maintain a diversified, affordable community for our members and their families to live.
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Our History
Saorsie Co-operative Homes was founded in 1987 under the Federal Co-operative Housing Program. It is an HSA Co-op.
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International Flag of Co-operatives
In 1921, there were more co-ops than ever before. At the International Co-operative Congress of World Co-op Leaders in Basel, Switzerland, co-op leaders wanted to identify and define the growing co-operative movement’s common values and ideals to help unite co-ops around the world. They decided to hold a special event, and to develop an international co-op symbol to celebrate the movement’s growing diversity.
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In Essen, Germany in 1922, ICA leaders made plans for the very first international “Co-operators’ Day” which was held in July 1923. Since then, on the first Saturday every July, International Co-operative Day has been celebrated. The day is a chance for co-op members and supporters to work together and promote the co-op movement’s successes and ideals of international solidarity, economic efficiency, equality, and world peace.
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Co-op leaders also wanted to design an international co-op symbol and a flag for the first “Co-operators’ Day.” It was hard to settle on an image that would please everybody. Artists all over the world submitted ideas and designs. Eventually, a famous French co-operator, Professor Charles Gide, suggested using the seven colours of the rainbow for the flag. He pointed out that the rainbow symbolized unity in diversity and the power of light, enlightenment and progress.
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Everybody in the world can recognize a rainbow and grasp its many meanings. Rainbow refers to the image in the sky after a rain storm, in every country and continent. In cultures around the world, there are stories and legends about the rainbow as a path or gate to a better world or a reward. And, from a scientific viewpoint, the rainbow is in fact a single, indivisible entity.
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All these meanings make the rainbow a perfect emblem for the co-op movement. After some experiments with different designs and kinds of cloth, the first rainbow flag was completed in 1924. Everyone loved it, and it was adopted as an official symbol of the international co-operative movement in 1925.