Keewaywin Capital CEO goes the banking and investment route to build 500 homes in First Nation communities
The Niagara-based Smith, a member of Missanabie Cree First Nation, is CEO of Keewaywin Capital, Inc., a newly-incorporated private credit fund for Indigenous communities. She’s made it her mission to provide housing – four to five hundred homes is her goal over the next half decade – for remote First Nations.
“It’s about finding people who want to see their money at work, but also want to see their money doing good.”In April, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation announced its partnership with Keewaywin for the Accelerated Construction Pilot Project, while more private investors are slowly coming on board.
“If I can show that this can be done, I hope more financial institutions look at this and say, ‘Why don't we start a fund?’ She trained to be professional dancer and choreographer, even being lauded by Canada’s Council for the Arts as one of Canada’s Top 50 Artists for her work. Her talent landed her a spot in front of the Governor-General, the first ever dancer to perform live for the chair.
“Look at the self esteem and the empowerment and everything you saw in those kids’ eyes. Imagine what we could do if we had more time?,” she said.From that moment, OLI became Smith’s vehicle for helping kids learn discipline, motivation, and the art of dance. “Listen, I'll come back every three weeks,” she said. “I'll teach you a new routine. And we'll keep building that routine.
In 2022, the gala drew in dancers from Big Island Lake Cree Nation, Lac La Croix First Nation, Matawa Education and Care Centre in Thunder Bay, Pikangikum First Nation, Six Nations STEAM Academy, and Wasagamack First Nation in northeastern Manitoba. “I always felt like economic development can't really happen unless your community and your kids are really socially engaged,” she said.
“I don't want to go out loud until I can actually say, ‘Listen, I've done this, and I have the track record to be able to speak to it, and prove it and show it, then I can ask the big banks, ‘Why aren’t you lending?’”RBC recently settled in a case where a U.S subsidiary, City National, the largest bank based in Los Angeles, was accused of letting staff generate loan applications largely from its disproportionately white customer base instead of reaching out to Black and Hispanic people.
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