He stood at an imposing height of close to 6’4” and commanded the attention of Canada and the world from the 1930s to the 50s. He was the Rev. Dr. Moses M. Coady – a Catholic priest, a complex personality, and the pride of Nova Scotia. He shook the lives of ordinary working people out of their complacency during the Depression years by urging them to take ownership of their lives. He roared that democracy and peace will be achieved when the people learn to participate in the economic, social and educational forces that condition them.

He believed that you cannot teach people about God on an empty stomach, and so his approach to social change and international development started with economics. The central message of the social movement he founded, the Antigonish Movement, was this: knowledge for power, education for action, learning for change. It was a movement that urged St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, to move beyond traditional education to adult education of the masses. At the height of his power and influence, Coady spoke before the League of Nations, appeared on radio broadcasts, published the book Masters of their Own Destiny, and attracted the curiosity of the international development leaders of his time. Maclean’s named him one of the 100 prominent Canadians of the last century, and Canada Post unveiled a commemorative stamp in his honour as part of the Millennium Collection, which recognizes the contribution of 68 exceptional Canadian people and organizations. And people from around the world continue to learn from his techniques through the Coady International Institute, an educational institute for development leaders of the world.

The Coady International Institute was established by St. Francis Xavier University soon after Dr. Coady’s death in 1959, to continue his vision of the full and abundant life for people, not only in the Canadian Maritime provinces, but also in the less developed regions of the world. Requests for help came from places such as Africa, India, South America, and the Carribean. Students, graduates, supporters, and partners of the Coady Institute are known as the “Coady people”, those who have spearheaded community-based initiatives in a variety of areas including agriculture, savings and credit, microenterprise, cooperative development, education, health, environment, women’s rights, human rights and so many more. Nearly 5,000 Coady alumni and numerous global partners are currently working in 130 countries to improve people’s lives. Young Canadians are also inspired by Coady to be global citizens through overseas volunteer opportunities.

The documentary Coady’s Dream centers on the relationship between Moses Coady and the people he loved and inspired in his time, and how this extends to the people who go through the Coady International Institute today. F. Von Pilis, a Saskatchewan journalist, wrote in The Union Farmer of August 1959: “Love was the power motivating Dr. Coady – love of God and his fellow men.” It is not his spiritual writings that people will remember of the Rev. Dr. Moses Coady, but his life – how he lived out his belief that the development of the world starts in the minds and hearts of ordinary people – and the extraordinary force of his love.

“Through the visible and material things of this world, we rise to a knowledge and appreciation of the invisible things of God. This doctrine is the very essence of the parable of the Good Samaritan. The traveler was waylaid by robbers and left wounded on the highway. A lot of people passed him by, among them a Levite – and there are an awful lot of them in North America; but the poor Samaritan passing by had pity on him, put oil in his wounds, put him on his donkey – and I don’t know anything more material than that – and took him to the inn; and when he got him to the inn he put his hand in his pocket and took out the cold, hard cash and told the inn-keeper to look after him and if there was anything more to pay he would take care of it on his return. The whole performance was a series of materialistic acts. Our Lord did not hesitate to use these material things to teach us spirituality. Surely that should be good enough for us.

My message to you, then …. is that you return to your homes and dedicate your lives to the business of building, according to these specifications, the good society of the future – and don’t ask anybody’s permission to do it.”

- From an address to the Rural and Industrial Conference, Antigonish, July 7, 1953, given by the Rev. Dr. Moses M. Coady