A co-operative may be formed in accordance with:

• a provincial co-operative statute setting out its corporate form and model of operation.
• or the Canada Cooperatives Act when the co-operative has a place of business in at least two provinces.

The Co-operative Secretariat has published an information kit called Forming Our Co-operative which is online at: www.agr.ca/policy/coop/kitcoop/index.html

An information kit on federally incorporating a co-operative is on Industry Canada's Strategis web site at strategis.ic.gc.ca/sc_mrksv/corpdir/engdoc/9.html.

Useful information on starting a co-op can also be found on the CoopZone website at http://www.coopzone.coop/en/starting.