By Dele Akintilo
The black population of Toronto could once again have its financial institution if the three African Canadian Organizations can acquire the needed community support to get the Pan-African Credit Union that was proposed off the ground.
According to Adaoma Patterson, the President of Jamaica Canadian Association (JCA) who is one of the three entities pushing for the project, the proposed institution is not limited to people of colour but the goal is to offer an alternate banking system that will serve the Black community better in Greater Toronto and later serve the rest of Canada.
Patterson said: “It’s a lofty goal. Well overdue, though. We hope that we can get through all of the stages to launch by the summer of 2021. The main aim is to provide financial services to Blacks who have been traditionally under-served or un-banked. People have been asking for it for a while. This piece was the next logical step. While families will be the core of the credit union’s membership, making investments in Black-owned businesses is also key. The community has always talked about economic empowerment. It enables all of the other conversations when you have that economic ownership.”
This is not the first time JCA will run a credit union. JCA ran a credit union that folded up in 1995.
Plans to resuscitate the credit union started to gather momentum in 2016, after Patterson became the President of the JCA.
While talking about plans to revive the credit union, Patterson said: “We were tackling a lot of other things, but it seemed like the financial institution piece was missing.”
Patterson discovered on time that the JCA was not alone in fighting for the come back of a financial institution that focuses on blacks. The Lions Circle African Mens’ Association was also making moves to establish its own credit union. After her discovery, she made sure the associations pulled resources together.
After Canadian Black Chamber of Commerce joined the partnership, the idea started gaining steam and the steering committee which include people from various financial backgrounds has been having series of meetings lately.
The President of Black Chamber of Commerce, Andria Barrett said she always receive complaints from owners of small businesses about the difficulties they encounter in a bid to access loans from traditional banks.
She said: “I’ve heard countless stories from Black business owners, who have made some money, but can’t get a business credit card or a loan, so we have to create our own.”
Though the project is still in its infant stage, the group is currently collating feedback through an online survey to examine the appetite of the community for the type of financial institution they want.
The online survey will close this month and once the survey ends, there will be a very clear indication as to whether the concept is accepted by the people.
