Our co-operative evolved from discussions between our core group of developers: Robin Puga, Mack Hardy, and Damien Norris.  We are all based in Vancouver and together we have a combined experience of over 30 years professional web site creation and consulting.  At present, each of us provides complete Internet solutions to clients on a contract basis and each of us deals individually with the many hurdles involved in the client development and management process. Our collective client portfolios include Vancity, BC Institute for Co-operative Studies, BC Co-operative Association, Postcarbon Institute, Vancouver International Writers Festival, POLIS Institute, and many other non-profit and community organizations.

Our first meeting of the co-op, March 2008.
Left to Right: Damien Norris, Tylor Sherman (student, non-member,
attended for learning purposes), Mack Hardy, and Robin Puga.

Our discussions centered on the idea that we were individually providing websites with similar functionality to our clients.  It was clear that with our combined efforts and experience we had the knowledge and expertise to create a complete Internet hosting solution and distribute it to our client organizations at a reduced cost.  Many of our clients operate on fixed budgets; our clients could take advantage of our collaboration and get inexpensive, reliable and Canadian-based Internet services and hosting.

The CanTrust team after installing more servers in Burnaby.

The worker co-operative was the desirable model with which to run our business because it fit with our values, the values of our customers, and we were inspired to put into practice the knowledge many of us had of the co-operative model.  Robin Puga was first to introduce the idea of the co-operative model to our group.  Robin had worked as the Technology Director for the British Columbia Institute for Co-operative Studies at the University of Victoria many years.  With Robin’s knowledge, and our group’s research into the structure, values and principles of the co-operative model, we collectively committed to forming a worker co-operative as a way to ensure accountability and stability of our project.

CanTrust opens its business account with Vancity (our local financial co-op).

We believe the values of the co-op model (self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, and solidarity) parallel the values found in the Open Source software development community and we would like to be  successful example of how the co-operative model can be applied in the Information Technology sector.