Seventy years ago something very special was                   happening in the Maritimes.

Help celebrate a remarkable social movement!

In the 1930s, ordinary people in Eastern Nova Scotia decided to take their futures into their own hands. They began forming study clubs to see how they could better control their own resources, and started a program of community co-operation that became known around the world as the Antigonish Movement.  Co-ops and credit unions sprang up everywhere as people learned they could become Masters of Their Own Destiny.

Rev. Dr. Moses M. Coady captured the excitement in his book with this title, published in 1939. Community development activists from countries around the globe came to Antigonish to study these new methods and help people take charge of their lives. Fifty years ago, the Coady International Institute was founded at St.FX, to carry this work forward. 2009 also marks the 75th anniversary of the Bergengren Credit Union in Antigonish and the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Co-operative Association nationally.

This long tradition of people working together for the good of all deserves a celebration!

Please join us in honouring our past and rethinking our future. Read Masters of Their Own Destiny and share your thoughts with others on this website. The site will be active until the end of 2009.

Antigonish Reads – a collaborative effort of