Rural politician says Caisse Financial closings discriminate against French

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This article was published 27/11/2017 (3103 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A decision by Caisse Financial Group to close eight of its 27 branches in tiny communities is a clear shot at rural Manitoba francophones, a municipal politician in the southeast corner of the province says.

“I just feel the French community is being discriminated against,” said David Beaudry, a councillor in the RM of Piney, where South Junction Caisse Populaire will close its doors March 1.

Caisse Financial, which is headquartered in Winnipeg, mailed out letters earlier this month to members of the eight branches informing them of the closures. None of them have ATMs in branches or anywhere else for area customers to continue banking.

The lone ATM in South Junction — just north of the Canada-U.S. border about an hour east of Steinbach — is at a gas bar-convenience store and a $3 fee is added to each transaction. The ATM at the Access Credit Union in Sprague, 12 km east, was removed a year ago.

That means an extra $3 charge for every withdrawal, a 12 km drive to Sprague during business hours. The only other option is a two-hour round trip to the nearest Caisse Financial branch in La Broquerie.

Caisses populaires are, essentially, francophone versions of credit unions, and there has been one in the RM of Piney for nearly 80 years, Beaudry said.

“This is how the caisses came to the area in the first place,” he said. “They were designed to help the French community. They’re walking away from one of the basic things that brought them here.”

Caisse Financial Group CEO Joel Rondeau said the smallest of its 27 branches are being closed because of reduced activity. The eight branches amount to a very small percentage of the company’s assets, he said.

“At some point, you can’t justify the service for that volume of business,” he said. “As we all know, how people do their financial transactions is evolving and changing. More transactions are being done by phone or the internet.”

But Beaudry said the southeast part of the province still relies heavily on cash transactions.

“Everybody has to pay cash,” he said. “We have a farmers’ market. That’s all cash.”

The president of the Piney Regional Chamber of Commerce said the community was caught off guard by the decision because it has experienced growth in recent years as a result of increased industrial activity and population growth.

“People were blindsided,” Jonathon Prevost said, adding he expects most people will switch their accounts over to Access Credit Union in Sprague, rather than deal with the onerous inconvenience. “We were seeing positive things, and then this happens.”

In addition to South Junction, branches are closing in Richer, St. Joseph, Letellier, Marquette, St. Leon, Rathwell, and Haywood. Rondeau said the branches performed counter services — such as deposits, withdrawals and bill payments — but no lending, investing or financial planning services.

Credit unions close individual branches when they are no longer financially sustainable, said John Hamilton, spokesman for Credit Union Central of Manitoba. However, Hamilton could not recall in recent memory so many being shuttered at one time.

Caisse Financial is an associate member of Credit Union Central but manages its own affairs.

Caisse Financial Group wouldn’t give specific numbers for the branches marked for closure but Rondeau said they have only a few hundred members each.

The RM of Montcalm, which snakes along Highway 75, will lose caisse populaires in St. Joseph and Letellier.

“It’s sad to see these places close in small towns but it’s the reality in this day and age,” said Montcalm Reeve Derek Sabourin, adding he wishes Caisse Financial had included members in their decision-making process.

People in Letellier will have to travel 16 km to the next nearest caisse populaire in St. Jean Baptiste, and people in St. Joseph will have to travel 22 km. Sabourin said Letellier has a population of about 200 people and St. Joseph, about 75.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca