by Marie J. Bouchard
Co-authored with Paulo Cruz Filho and Martin St-Denis
A report for the Quebec Statistics Institute
In French
There are no official statistics about social economy in Québec (nor in Canada). Existing data is partial, comprising... more
There are no official statistics about social economy in Québec (nor in Canada). Existing data is partial, comprising only one or the other component of social economy (cooperatives, mutuals or non-profit organizations), or covering only one region. This report presents a conceptual framework to guide the data collection and the production of statistics which are coherent and comparable regarding Québec’s social economy. The objective is also to contribute to the development of analytical research on social economy by identifying relevant indicators to quantitatively describe it. The Definition of Social Economy adopted in Québec in 1996, like other definitions used elsewhere in the world, underlines the primacy of social purpose over economic activity. Starting from this definition, the resulting conceptual framework establishes the type of entities, the legal status, sectors of activity and a cluster of qualification criteria of social economy organizations. It also establishes a typology of organizations. The conceptual framework also allows assessing the peripheral components in this field and forecasting its own progress. The conceptual framework must be quite general to establish the fact that the social economy is part of an international movement and at the same time specific enough to properly reflect its Québec originality.
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