2005 Order of Merit
Arthur Benoit
Pioneer Inductee
Monsignor Arthur Benoit has long been recognized as the founder of the first credit union in Manitoba.
Founded in 1937, St. Malo (later a caisse populaire) was one of many credit unions organized from within Catholic parishes. Although a credit union had been established and was operated by Father St. Amant in St. Jean Baptiste from 1911 to 1918, St. Malo was the first to be chartered under provincial legislation — a 1937 amendment to the Companies Act — that enabled the formation of credit unions.
In the 1930s, Father Benoit (Monsignor by the time of his death in 1948) saw that his parishioners — like most farmers on the continent — were suffering. He brought them together to help each other financially. The first loan to a member, $56.50 to be repaid in monthly installments of $2.00, financed the purchase of a cream separator. In 1942, one year after he was appointed its parish priest, Holy Cross Credit Union was chartered. While no evidence can be found that shows Father Benoit was a founder of that Winnipeg credit union, the timing is not likely coincidental.
The Parish of St. Malo has asked that the bursary in Msgr. Benoit’s name be awarded to a 2006 Grade 12 graduate from the St. Malo area who also successfully completed the parish’s Religious Studies credit program. The parish awarded the bursary to Ms. Chantal Desrosiers of St. Pierre.
Norwood Study
Group #1
Pioneer Inductee
The lack of access to credit during the Great Depression of the 1930s provided enormous impetus to the development of credit unions in rural and urban centres throughout North America. The message about credit unions reached Manitoba through churches, unions, immigration, newspapers — and radio.
Chicago’s WCFL (The Voice of Labour, which reached into Canada) carried broadcasts from the Extension Services department of St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. “Credit unions will help you lift yourself by your own bootstraps,” the broadcasts declared. For the price of printing and postage, listeners could send away to Antigonish for workbooks that led them through the process of forming and operating co-operatives. The Norwood Grove Study Group #1 — David Harriman, Fred Everett, Walter Thomson and Leonard Schaumloffel — listened to the Antigonish broadcasts, worked through the material and, in 1938, formed Winnipeg’s first credit union.
Norwood Credit Union would eventually merge with Heritage, which later merged with Co-operators — which was subsequently renamed Cambrian Credit Union in 1986.
The board of Cambrian Credit Union has asked that the $1,000 bursary be awarded to a graduating student from Norwood’s Nelson McIntyre Collegiate who is pursuing post-secondary education and has maintained a good grade point average and demonstrated active involvement and leadership in their community or school. The school awarded the bursary to Ms. Jo-Ann Moreira of Winnipeg.