Desjardins, Dorimène National Historic Person

Levis, Quebec
Postal stamp Alphonse and Dorimène Desjardins: Small Savings, Big Results (© Canada Post Corporation | Société des postes canadienne [2000]. Reproduced with Permission | Reproduit avec permission.)
Dorimène and Alphonse Desjardins
(© Canada Post Corporation | Société des postes canadienne [2000]. Reproduced with Permission | Reproduit avec permission.)
Address : 59 Bégin Avenue, Levis, Quebec

Recognition Statute: Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date: 2012-06-26
Life Date: 1858 to 1932

Event, Person, Organization:
  • Caisse Populaire (Mouvement Desjardins)  (Event)
  • Desjardins, Alphonse  (Person)
Other Name(s):
  • Dorimène Desjardins  (Designation Name)
Research Report Number: 2011-11

Importance: She personifies the contribution of many women who, working in the shadows, helped to establish and run co-operatives or family businesses.

Plaque(s)


Existing plaque:  59 Bégin Avenue, Lévis, Quebec

Dorimène Desjardins is today recognized as the co-founder of the caisses populaires, one of Canada’s most important co-operative financial movements. Together with her husband, Alphonse Desjardins, she played a key role in establishing the first caisse here in Lévis, which she managed unofficially from 1903 to 1906. Widowed in 1920, she exercised moral authority over the managers of the various Desjardins caisses to ensure that they evolved in accordance with her husband’s vision. This champion of co-operative values exemplifies the contribution of many women who, from behind the scenes, were instrumental to the success of a business.