Farmers' Bank of Rustico
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The Farmers' Bank of Rustico operated in the village of Rustico, (municipality of North Rustico, Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
) from 1864 to 1894. It is often considered to have been the first community-based bank in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Founded and managed under the leadership of Father Georges-Antoine Belcourt
Georges-Antoine Belcourt
Georges-Antoine Belcourt , also George Antoine Bellecourt, was a Canadian Jesuit missionary and priest. Born in Baie-du-Febvre, Quebec, the young Georges-Antoine was ordained in 1827. He established missions in areas of Quebec and Manitoba...
(1803-1874), the Farmer's Bank of Rustico was established on April 21, 1863.
The bank received Royal Assent for its act of incorporation at the Court of Windsor on April 7, 1864." The first president was farmer Jerome Doiron, and the first cashier was Marinus Blanchard, a local school teacher.
The Farmers' Bank "was the precursor of the North American credit union
Credit union
A credit union is a cooperative financial institution that is owned and controlled by its members and operated for the purpose of promoting thrift, providing credit at competitive rates, and providing other financial services to its members...
movement through its influence upon the pioneer credit union organizer, Alphonse Desjardins
Alphonse Desjardins (co-operator)
Gabriel-Alphonse Desjardins , born in Lévis, Quebec, was the co-founder of the Caisses Populaires Desjardins , a forerunner of North American credit unions and community banks.- Early life :...
of Quebec." Like the later credit unions, the Farmers' Bank accepted deposits and provided loans, primarily for less than 1 year. It showed that villagers could successfully operate a financial institution without the assistance of banking experts. However, there are also important differences. The Bank issued its own currency and kept its working funds in specie. But it never built up a substantial reserve fund—preferring to return most of its annual profits to shareholders as dividends.
The Farmers' Bank was also one of the earliest manifestations of a strong movement of Acadian
Acadian
The Acadians are the descendants of the 17th-century French colonists who settled in Acadia . Acadia was a colony of New France...
economic self-determination. Belcourt's innovative ideas also gave rise to dozens of seed grain banks in Acadian communities in the 1860s, including one in Egmont Bay that was a precursor to the later co-operative movement in the Evangeline
Evangeline
Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie, is an epic poem published in 1847 by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The poem follows an Acadian girl named Evangeline and her search for her lost love Gabriel, set during the time of the Expulsion of the Acadians.The idea for the poem came from...
region of the Island. The Bank also anticipated Mouvement des caisses populaires acadiennes
Mouvement des caisses populaires acadiennes
The Mouvement des caisses populaires acadiennes is a credit union operating in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. It has approximately $2 billion in assets. It is a largely francophone organization but in recent years has been expanding into anglophone parts of the province...
, a 200,000 member network of credit unions in New Brunswick.
As such, it played an important role in the development of the Acadian community in the Maritimes. In the view of MacDonald, "the steady availability of cheap credit for thirty years enabled the predominantly Acadian community to attain economic independence." However, the Canadian Bank Act of 1871 did not envision such small financial institutions, and the Farmers' Bank wound up its operations when its charter was not renewed in 1894.
Farmers' Bank of Rustico Museum
The Farmers' Bank of Rustico in South Rustico, Prince Edward IslandPrince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
built in 1861 to 1863 is a National Historic Site of Canada, and serves as a local history museum. Displays include Father Georges-Antoine Belcourt and the bank's history, Acadian culture, the fishing industry and area natural history. Admission to the museum includes a tour of the adjacent Doucet House, which was moved to the site in 1999 from its original location on Grand-Père Point. The home has been restored to its pioneer appearance.