Reverse: Visual of Alphonse Desjardins' home. Also served as the first Caisse Populaire site.

Designed by: Adapted from painting by Jean-Guy Lebel.

The concept of a cooperative financial institution - a bank owned and operated by the people - was brought to North America by Canadian Alphonse Desjardins.

Born on November 5, 1854 in Lévis, Quebec, Desjardins studied at Collège de Lévis before embarking on a series of interesting careers. It was the position as stenographer for the House of Commons that inspired Desjardins towards the mission that became his legacy.

Listening to a debate on laws to protect borrowers (April 6, 1897) Desjardins learned of the plight of Quebec's working class. Wages were low and seasonal. Industrialization had brought increased unemployment and the credit available was scarce and largely unjust. With no social infrastructure available to them, entire families were being destroyed by sickness, death or unemployment.

Desjardins began to research the concept of rural savings banks already operating in Europe. He then applied this knowledge to create a new model - one specifically adapted to life in the New World. Desjardin's home in Lévis, currently a historical site, served as the head office of North America's fist cooperative financial institution which was founded on December 6, 1900. On January 23, 1901, the first deposit made was the 10 cent coin.

When Desjardins dies on October 31, 1920, there were nearly 140 credit unions in Quebec, with some 30,000 members and $6 million in assets. From a house in Lévis, Quebec, the winds of social and economic change had swept across North America in what became known as the Mouvement Desjardins.

The birthplace and location of North America's first credit union is captured on the 2000 Canadian 10-cent Sterling Silver Coin in a design by Canadian artist Jean-Guy Lebel. Built by Alphonse Desjardins between 1882 and 1884, the house embodies the Victorian architecture typical of that era. Now a historical site, Maison Alphonse-Desjardins operates as an interpretation centre, retelling the story of it's pivotal time to the public.

Quebec City, Quebec, March 24, 2000

At a celebration marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of the credit union movement in Quebec, the Honourable Pierre Pettigrew, Minister of International Commerce, on behalf of the Honourable Alfonso Gagliano, Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada and Minister responsible for the Royal Canadian Mint, unveiled a sterling silver 10-cent piece honouring Alphonse Desjardins, who started the first caisse populaire.

"Alphonse Desjardins was a visionary when he founded Canada's savings and credit unions," said Mr. Pettigrew. "We have chosen to herald the work and commitment of a man who greatly contributed to the social and economic development of Québec with a ten-cent piece because the very first deposit was exactly 10 cents."

"The collector's coin shows the Desjardins house, which was the site of the first caisse populaire, founded in 1900 in Lévis, Quebec. It has a frosted relief and is the same diameter as the current dime. Only 70,000 will be minted.

The circulating dime has borne the image of a schooner since 1937, with two exceptions. In 1967, it showed a mackerel: that year all circulating coinage had wildlife designs by Alex Colville, to mark the centennial of Confederation. The Royal Canadian Mint also introduced a special design in 1997, in honour of the 500th anniversary of John Cabot's first voyage across the Atlantic. As in 1997, this year's coin is being struck in sterling silver only as a collector's item.

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