Tla’amin (Sliammon) First Nation elder Elsie Qaxustala’s Paul has received a major book prize from the Canadian Historical Association in Ottawa, June 2.
In Ottawa, while attending closing Truth and Reconciliation Commission events, Paul was awarded the Aboriginal History Book prize for Written as I Remember It: Teachings from the Life of a Sliammon Elder.
“I’ve had really good feedback from people who have read my book, because I am not alone in this, we all share the same history between our people,” said Paul. “We share that history, how we travelled, how we lived.”
Written in collaboration with granddaughter Harmony Johnson, one of 17 grandchildren, and Paige Raibmon, a First Nations history teacher at the University of BC, the book celebrates the identity, language and traditional practices of the Tla’amin Nation.
“For me our story has never really been told or publicized about what we went through and it is to give a better understanding,” said Paul, who attended residential school for two years. “For our people to know that where we came from was rich prior to contact.
“We have a long ways to go in terms of healing and for the government to recognize what happened to our people.”
An honorary doctor of letters at Vancouver Island University (VIU), Paul, whose traditional Coast Salish name Qaxustala’s means a welcoming person who shares her wealth of knowledge, was raised by grandparents who tried to keep her out of residential school by paddling her to remote locations every fall.
“In the past there’s been so much discrimination against our people,” said Paul. “I see healing and a lot of hard work for our people to stand up and say ‘We can do this, for the new generation, for our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren.’”
Paul, a former social worker, is known for her work as a founding member of Tsow-Tun Le Lum house treatment centre in Lantzville on Vancouver Island, and as elder-in-residence at VIU’s Powell River campus.
“I know my grandparents were and all of our ancestors were hard-working people, very spiritual people,” said Paul. “We can’t go back to living in the past, but we can certainly make the future better by teaching our young people.”
