George Pitman
Member since 1941, North Burnaby Branch
George Pitman is a successful business man, designer and builder. He got to where he is today by his own two hands, staying true to his principles of hard work and perseverance.
If you look back through George’s life, to when he was a child living in the municipality of Burnaby in the 1940s, you are taken back to the forestry heydays of British Columbia. A time when American capitalists were purchasing forested land and acquiring sawmills throughout the province[1], recruiting workers for minimal wages and the promise of a better life. A time when workers had to band together to fight for their rights; when being injured on the job meant lost pay or even poverty. It was a time when getting a credit line at the general store was the only way to get food on the table, some months.
While credit unions were already thriving on the east coast of Canada, it wasn’t until 1936 that the Burnaby citizens' group, “The Army of the Common Good” organized a financial co-operative[2] called Common Good Co-operative Credit Unit No. 1. On July 22, 1939, the co-op officially became C.G. Credit Union—the third chartered credit union established in the province. George Pitman was to become member No. 902.