New Dawn Enterprises Limited is a private, volunteer-directed social enterprise dedicated to community building. It seeks to identify community needs and to establish and operate ventures that speak to those needs.

Incorporated in in 1976, it is the oldest Community Development Corporation in Canada.

New Dawn’s work in the community is guided by its mission and vision.

Its mission is to engage the community to create and support a culture of self-reliance.

Its vision is a self-reliant people living in a vibrant community.

A Short History of New Dawn Enterprises

In many ways, Cape Breton Island’s recent history is one of struggle: a struggle to keep coal mines and then the steel plant operating, industries around which much of Cape Breton was organized for most of the twentieth century, a struggle to overcome the unemployment and poverty left in the wake of these two mammoth drivers of the economy, and a struggle to overcome a long-ingrained mentality of dependency, on both large industry and massive central government programs.

In a way, Cape Breton has been in a period of uncertainty for decades, asking itself “what now” as year after year, no one arrived to fill the shoes of coal or steel.

Today, however, we are witnessing a type of transition; one bursting with creativity, innovation, resiliency, hope, courage and determination. Individuals, groups and communities all across Cape Breton are coming together to start again and to build vibrant, sustainable and self-reliant communities and lives.  

New Dawn is a collection of businesses, projects and conversations that reflect this community: its history, its demographics, its shifts, its gaps, its aspirations, its weaknesses and its strengths. It is a culmination of responses to community needs that have changed and evolved over time.  

For more information on New Dawn and its businesses and services, please e-mail [email protected] or call 902-539-9560.