A Credit Union designed with black interest in mind

BY MICHAEL THOMAS

A group of black financial professionals is well on their way to changing how banks view and treat black people here in this city. If everything goes according to plan, by 2021 Toronto will be home to the Pan African Credit Union.

According to Mr. Alton Brooks Vice President of the Jamaican Canadian Association, this new project has multiple organizations involved, but the main objective is to serve the financially underserved black community here in Toronto.

“This has no bearing on where you are from,” said Brooks, “As long as you affiliate with the African ancestry, you are our focus. We looked around and saw that almost every other community had their own financial institutions: the Italians have their own credit union, the Jews have their own banks, everybody has something for themselves except for us.”

Brooks told Toronto Caribbean Newspaper, that the group feels there is enough of a demand out there and this is something that the community needs. Once it is the will of the people, he said, “We will make sure that happens.”

The JCA Vice President told Toronto Caribbean Newspaper, “We are looking for around a thousand survey’s from people to tell us what they want in this facility, tell us if they want it and where they want it before we present any information to the regulatory body (FSCO), and also the credit union association, who will determine if they will give this an opportunity.”

Toronto Caribbean Newspaper also spoke with another professional behind the plan to bring this project to the forefront, Mr. Ivor Christopher of the Lion’s Circle African Men’s Association. Christopher too spoke of the need to serve the black community and stressed that he wants to create a welcoming financial atmosphere for black people here in Toronto and later down the road province wide as well.

“I spoke with a gentleman yesterday,” Christopher said, “who makes six-figures, has an a-plus credit rating, no family, no children and does not feel welcome when he walks into a bank. One of the things that we plan to do is to provide financial literacy, because I think that is an area where we need to enhance.”

Christopher told Toronto Caribbean Newspaper his own personal story of going to a bank to get a mortgage, been pre-approved, shopping for a home in the pre-approved range, only to be turned down upon returning to the same bank. He was given a cock and bull excuse as to why he could not acquire the home after being preapproved.

According to Christopher, the regulative body has not given out a new license to a credit union in the last 16 years, therefore, if this one goes through it will be a milestone for the black community and Toronto in general.

Although this ambitious project is not up and running as yet, Christopher was asked what are his future plans for this venture down the road to which he replied, “I would like for us to: one get a  license,  and two see two to three branches of this credit union operating across southern Ontario in the next five years, that would be  amazing.”

Christopher told Toronto Caribbean Newspaper, “We are planning to run this like a business, our goal is to be an iconic credit union amongst credit unions.” Christopher, who once worked for an Italian credit union, commended them on the way they do business and said, “That’s the model that we are going to model ourselves after, we are going to set the bar so high  for ourselves in terms of management and fiscal responsibility that we are going to be beyond reproach.”

Both Christopher and Brooks would like the public to know that this is phase one, and it is extremely important to get the community survey done. This can be accomplished by going to www.pacu.ca. There you can complete the survey and show your interest in bringing this to life and give your feedback whether it is good or bad.