Desjardins celebrates its 125th anniversary and the UN International Year of Cooperatives with a commitment to building a better tomorrow

In 2025, Desjardins Group is celebrating its 125th anniversary—a major milestone for the organization that coincides with the United Nations International Year of Cooperatives. This compound event highlights the fundamental role of cooperatives when it comes to sustainable development, social inclusion and helping communities become more financially empowered. In honour of the occasion, Desjardins Group’s board of directors has renewed its commitment to the cooperative model as a crucial driver that can be leveraged to build a society that’s more fair, inclusive and prosperous for everyone.

DESJARDINS GROUP’S DECLARATION IN HONOUR OF THE UN INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF COOPERATIVES

Whereas:

The UN General Assembly has declared 2025 as the International Year of Cooperatives. This initiative will help showcase the impact of cooperatives around the world and highlight their ability to drive progress so that we can reach the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) under the 2030 Agenda.

The year of cooperatives coincides with Desjardins’s 125th anniversary. In honour of this milestone, the organization is renewing its commitment to community development and providing members and clients with the support they need to be financially empowered.

The Conseil québécois de la coopération et de la mutualité and Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada, two major umbrella organizations in the world of cooperatives, have made declarations for the International Year of Cooperatives.

Desjardins Group wants to maintain its status as a recognized leader when it comes to supporting cooperative development across Canada.

In consideration of the above:

Desjardins Group is adding its voice to the Conseil québécois de la coopération et de la mutualité and Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada by reaffirming its commitment to the cooperative model as a driver of community involvement by rising to economic and social challenges.

We believe that cooperatives and mutualist organizations are more fair and inclusive, particularly in contexts where wealth concentration exacerbates social inequality and poverty, and those where no other economic mechanism has been successful in restoring balance within communities, whether locally or elsewhere.

We maintain that cooperatives help strengthen the principles of democracy and can help generate community-wide wealth via the fair distribution of social and economic benefits by prioritizing their shared use by members, be they consumers, producers or workers.

We support the evolution of the cooperative and mutualist movement so that businesses can adapt to the aspirations of new generations and ongoing environmental changes by encouraging innovation in business models.

We support the components of the cooperative and mutualist development ecosystem in building strategies to innovate, cooperate with others and thrive in spaces that make room for public consultation.

We believe in adopting a cooperative business succession model to help thousands of Canadian SMEs find ways to transfer their businesses in an economic landscape that lacks new entrepreneurs.

We support our cooperative members by continuing to offer high-quality products and services that meet their needs and that help them work toward their ambitions.

We support umbrella organizations in the world of cooperatives with their efforts to support the development of the cooperative movement, whether by implementing cooperative education programs, promoting cooperative expertise or representing organizations before government bodies.

We’re committed to upholding this declaration to highlight our cooperative leadership.