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What is a funeral cooperative?
An economic and social mission
A
funeral cooperative is an association of persons
who organize to meet their needs by means of a
funeral enterprise. The members are the
collective owners of the cooperative. Power is
exercised democratically by the general meeting
of members and the elected administrators.
Funeral cooperatives are born out of the desire
of the community. They operate for us and with
us, in our community.
It is
not necessary to be a member to take advantage
of the cooperative’s services. However,
membership status permits each member to take
part in decisions affecting the major directions
of the enterprise. Members are offered discounts
and supplementary services. The cooperative
format is a guarantee of the quality of our
commitment and our services.
The
cooperatives strive to meet the needs of
bereaved families, whatever their budget. They
stand apart by virtue of their humane approach,
and endeavour to meet the needs of members and
non-members alike in a manner respectful of the
values of solidarity, mutual assistance and
integrity.
For
funeral cooperatives, the needs of members and
non-members are not limited to funeral services
alone. Cooperatives strive at all times to
fulfil their information and education role. In
responding to the wide variety of requests from
their members, they lead people to think about
and decide in advance on the kind of support
they want, encourage discussions in families to
break down the taboos surrounding death, provide
legal and financial information, offer support
in bereavement, and educate the public about
cooperation.
A strong and extensive network
Collectively owned by over 140,000 members in
Québec, the 26 funeral cooperatives in our
movement are recognized for their humane and
professional approach. These cooperatives can be
found all over Québec.
With over 100 service points, the funeral
cooperatives help to keep the cost of funeral
services down, so that the added value created
by the funeral sector enriches the community and
remains locally owned. Considered as a network,
the cooperatives in fact represent the largest
stakeholder in the industry in terms of number
of points of service, are acquiring an
increasingly large market share – 13.7% in 2006
– and own assets of close to $125 million.
Every year, more and more families place their
trust in funeral cooperatives, as a result of
which they perform more funerals than any other
component of the industry.
The cooperatives: owned by their members
Cooperatives have traditionally increased their
market shares thanks to a better price-quality
ratio, recruitment, renovation of existing
buildings, and construction of new funeral
homes. Since 1995, however, the acquisition of
private funeral enterprises has been the
cornerstone of the cooperatives’ development
strategy for dealing with the arrival of foreign
multinationals.
Since
1993, private companies in the Eastern
Townships, on the Lower St. Lawrence and Upper
North Shore, in Saguenay―Lac-Saint-Jean, in
Mauricie and in the Lanaudière region have been
bought out by funeral cooperatives. These
companies, which handle a total of more than
1,200 deaths, probably would have been taken
over by American multinationals had it not been
for the intervention of the cooperatives.
The administrators’ code of ethics
Ethics is a set of fundamental values to be used
as a guide to conduct in interpersonal
relations, quality of client services, and
individual responsibility for the objectives of
the member cooperatives of the Federation. Our
movement has therefore adopted a code of ethics
so that each person is accountable under rules
of transparency, integrity and professionalism
in the exercise of his or her functions. This
code of ethics applies to all directors,
administrators and employees of the member
cooperatives. It defines the lead principles
that are to guide the rules chosen to govern all
actions of every cooperator in the movement in
the course of his or her activities.
The ultimate goal of cooperation is to improve
living conditions. Every cooperative activity is
therefore directly inspired by service to people
and their community, which is perceived as the
source and purpose of the economy. Hence the
members of the Federation support the basic
principles of cooperation and agree to subject
all of their actions and activities to certain
rules that are consistent with the basic
orientations of cooperative thinking. Out of
concern for greater respect for the persons it
is their mission to serve, they also agree to
subject their actions to the strictest standards
prevailing in their field of activity, namely
the field of funeral services.
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