Servicing and empowering diverse Co-operative businesses in Canada’s Arctic

Arctic Co-operatives Limited is a service federation that is owned and controlled by 33 community-based Co-operative businesses that are located in Nunavut, Northwest Territories, Yukon and Saskatchewan.

Arctic Co-operatives Limited enables these Co-ops to provide a wide range of services to their local Member-Owners that improve social and economic well being in their communities. Our federation was incorporated in 1972 to coordinate the resources, consolidate the purchasing power and provide operational and technical support to independent community based Co-ops in the Arctic.

  • With Co-ops working together and jointly controlling their own service federation, they earned $7.7 million in patronage from Arctic Co-operatives Limited in 2022 and an additional $1.1 million from the Arctic Co-operative Development Fund.
  • Co-op businesses also paid $17.4 million in patronage to Co-op Members in 2022.

The Co-op System in the Arctic is a great example of Indigenous community economic development in Canada. The 33 Co-ops are independently owned and controlled Inuit, Metis and First Nations businesses. They operate retail facilities, hotels, cable operations, construction, outfitting, arts and crafts production and property rentals.