Alphonse Desjardins (co-operator) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Alphonse Desjardins
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Alphonse Desjardins, in 1913.
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| Born | 5 November 1854 Lévis, Province of Canada, British Empire
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| Died | 31 October 1920 (aged 65) Lévis, Quebec, Canada
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| Occupation | founder Desjardins Group |
| Spouse(s) | Dorimène Roy Desjardins |
Gabriel-Alphonse Desjardins (born November 5, 1854 – died October 31, 1920) was a very important person in Canadian history. He was born in Lévis, which was then part of Canada East. He is best known for starting the Caisses Populaires Desjardins. Today, this organization is called the Desjardins Group. It was one of the first groups like modern credit unions and community banks in North America.
Alphonse Desjardins helped farmers in Quebec a lot. Because of his work, he was added to the Agricultural Hall of Fame of Quebec in 1994.
Alphonse Desjardins' Early Life
Alphonse Desjardins started his career as a journalist. He wrote for newspapers like L'écho and Le Canadien until 1879. Later, he worked for the government. From 1892 to 1917, he was a stenographer in the House of Commons of Canada. This meant he wrote down everything said in French during parliamentary meetings.
Starting the Caisses Populaires
In 1897, Desjardins became worried about a problem called usury. Usury is when people lend money at very high interest rates, making it hard for others to pay them back. He spent three years studying how people in Europe were solving this problem. He learned about cooperative savings and credit groups.
On December 6, 1900, Desjardins and his wife, Dorimène Roy Desjardins, started the first Caisse d'épargne Desjardins in Lévis. It opened for business the next month. This organization later became the Caisses populaires Desjardins, and now it is the Desjardins Group. It was a new way for people to save money and get fair loans. It was a model for many North American credit unions that exist today.
The idea for Caisse populaire came from different savings and credit systems in Europe. These included banks in Germany, Italy, and France. Desjardins kept in touch with the people who started these groups.
At first, Desjardins started only a few caisses populaires. These were in Lauzon (1902), Hull (1903), and Saint-Malo, Québec (1905). He tried to get a law passed in Ottawa to help more of these groups start across Canada. When that didn't work, he worked with journalists and priests to open more caisses. Between 1907 and 1914, Desjardins personally helped start 146 new caisses.
When Alphonse Desjardins passed away in 1920, there were many caisses populaires. There were 187 in Québec, with about 30,000 members. They had almost $6 million in total savings. There were also 24 caisses in Ontario and 9 in the United States.
The house where Alphonse and Dorimène Desjardins started the first caisse populaire is now a special center. It helps people learn about his life and work. Since it opened in 1982, over 178,000 people from 115 countries have visited it.
See Also
- Dorimène Roy Desjardins
- Desjardins Group
- History of credit unions
