DCF Governor Marie Delorme Featured in The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business

In late 2022, The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business featured Order of Canada recipient and Donner Canadian Foundation Governor Marie Delorme.

In the article, Delorme describes how her traditional Métis upbringing influenced her career in telecommunications and her founding of The Imagination Group, whose business streams include strategic consulting to industry, governments, and Indigenous groups, as well as ceremonial tobacco production. Her life experiences, she says, have given her “the ability to be equally comfortable in a trapper’s cabin and a corporate boardroom.”

She goes on to discuss her approach to leadership: it’s “about supporting others and amplifying their voices. It is about accountability and earning the trust and respect of others.”

When asked why she’s optimistic about the future of Indigenous business, she highlighted the number of Indigenous businesses in Canada and their growth potential. “Equitable access to education, health and economic opportunities are foundational elements of prosperity. Land rights are critical for self-determination. Businesses and robust economies are key to independence and own-sourced revenue.”

Delorme recommends that governments, industry, and other institutions can find a roadmap to reconciliation and to being allies in growing Indigenous economies in the 2022 National Indigenous Economic Strategy, which was developed by more than 25 national Indigenous organizations. Among these groups was the National Indigenous Economic Development Board, on whose board Delorme sits.

The Donner Canadian Foundation is grateful for the experience and wisdom that Delorme brings to the foundation’s board.