This Profile of Effective Practice is one of fifteen stories examining how innovative, community-based initiatives are using comprehensive approaches to improve social and economic conditions on a local level.

The Santropol Roulant was the initiative of two young men, Chris Godsall and Keith Fitzpatrick. The two worked at the Café Santropol, on the corner of Duluth and Saint-Urban streets. In 1995, they decided to found the Santropol Roulant.

This Profile of Effective Practice is one of fifteen stories examining how innovative, community-based initiatives are using comprehensive approaches to improve social and economic conditions on a local level.

The Bois-Francs Community Development Corporation (CDCBF) intervenes on the administrative territory of the Arthabaska Regional County Municipality (RCM).

Many communities in Canada are using community economic development (CED) to successfully combat socioeconomic decline and build strong community-based organizations that contribute to citizen participation and the cultural diversity of their communities. CED refers to holistic, community-led approaches to building stronger communities.

This paper is a starting point for a discussion about the role the co-operative sector can play in assisting immigrants and refugees in Canada and the role that the immigrant and refugee community can itself play in revitalizing Canadian communities through the co-op model. The emphasis is on mutual learning and the sharing of new ideas and practices. We discuss the strengths that immigrants and refugees bring to Canada as well as the barriers they face in their goal to create new lives for themselves and their families.