Jace Poirier Lacerte

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT JACE POIRIER LACERTE

My name is Jacylin (Jay-see-lin) Poirier, but you can call me Jace, actually. I am the daughter of Helene Poirier, and the Granddaughter of Rose Poirier and Leo Landry. I\'m a mixed race Métis woman, and I carry French Canadian and Irish ancestry from my late father, Gary Paul Cooper of Jewel and Don Cooper. I am an educator, birth worker, and social innovator committed to restoring ceremony, community, and relational support to the most important transitions in family life.I am the founder of COYA (Consequences Of Your Actions), a philosophy and body of work grounded in the understanding that we are not only products of our circumstances, but also the consequences of our actions. Through COYA, I have worked with organizations, educators, and leaders across Canada to strengthen multigenerational impact, cultural safety, and systems change.My life’s work is now focused on building the Family Stewardship Centre, where we are training and mobilizing a new profession, Family Stewards.Family Stewards guide individuals and families through life’s major thresholds, including birth, becoming parents, and beyond, offering education, relational support, ceremony, and community building so that no family navigates these transitions alone.My work in birth began as a response to the normalization of trauma in the earliest moments of life. Through my practice as a doula, I saw the need to return birth to ceremony, while also expanding support to the entire family system, including non-birthing parents and partners. This work is grounded in prevention, strengthening relationships, and reducing family breakdown and violence by supporting families at the moments that shape them most.In addition to my practice, I design and deliver workshops such as Cultural Safety: Starts From Within, bridging nervous system regulation, embodied learning, and social systems change. I also lead the development of the Becoming Parents program and media series, bringing community-based, culturally grounded parenting support to a wider audience.I serve as Vice President of the Board for the Victoria Native Friendship Centre and as a Director with the Camosun College Foundation, supporting education, community wellbeing, and Indigenous-led innovation.My work is guided by four core agreements:Contribute Our Gifts. Own Our Actions. Yearn for Growth. Act on Legacy.I believe:Every birth is a ceremony.Becoming a parent is a rite of passage.Every family deserves to be stewarded into community.