This founder’s new program is reactivating Indigenous concepts of investing — here’s how
Why It Matters
“A key strategy in the colonization process, the residential school system, and the Indian Act, was to remove Indigenous Peoples from the land and displace Indigenous economies for the benefit of the settler population,” reads the Sage Initiative website. “This initiative is designed to reverse that process.”
Money has been a difficult subject for Sage Lacerte, for as long as she can remember.
“I knew that I was poor, and I knew that everyone else thought I was poor,” says the founder of Sage Initiative, a new mentorship and training program for Indigenous women in impact investing launching its inaugural cohort this fall.
As a Carrier from the Lake Babine Nation on the west coast of what’s now called Canada, Lacerte says she’s always very acutely felt the effects of settler-colonial perceptions of how Indigenous people interact with money. “I was raised with narratives that Indigenous people are a suck on a capitalist system, and that the work that we do…to protect mother earth and towards human rights,” she says, “that these are a waste of time. I learned that from media and from my settler friends.”
These narratives had real impacts on her
Join a community of 2000+ impact-oriented professionals like you. Get full access to this story and all Future of Good content, including tickets to our digital events and networking, with a membership.
Already have an account? Sign in.