Elsie Paul

Elsie Paul is an Elder and knowledge keeper of the Tla'amin (Sliammon) Nation, located on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Canada. Paul is a residential school survivor and one of the few living people to speak the Tla'amin language fluently. Paul's traditional name is , which translates as, "a welcoming person with a wealth of knowledge, someone who shares her culture". Paul was later adopted by her maternal grandparents, Jim and Molly Timothy, who raised her in Tla'amin Nation. Paul has worked to help develop the Tla'amin language curriculum that is now used in School District 47 (Powell River and Texada Island, British Columbia, Canada). Paul also worked with the Tla'amin Cultural Department to aid in developing a language program for her community as well as the FirstVoices database, where Indigenous languages are recorded, archived, and revived.

As a First Speaker of the Tla'amin language (in linguistics it is referred to as Sliammon), Elsie Paul contributed to the linguistic work of scholars, including Honore Tanabe the author of the Sliammon . Elsie Paul speaks of the difficulty in this linguistic work and sings traditional Tla'amin songs.

Awards

In 2024, the American Council of Learned Societies awarded Elsie Paul the inaugural ACLS Open Access Book Prize for the born-digital book As I Remember It; Teachings from the Life of a Sliammon Elder. In 2017 the City of Powell River granted Elsie Paul the Freedom of the City and commended her for her "Unfailing grace and steadfast and kind demeanour". Written as I Remember it: Teachings from the Life of a Sliammon Elder (a book co-authored by Elsie Paul) won the following awards: 2015, Winner - Aboriginal History Book Prize, Canadian Historical Association 2015, Winner - Armitage-Jameson Book Prize, Coalition for Western Women's History 2015, Commended - BCHF Historical Writing Awards, British Columbia Historical Federation. Honorary Doctorate in 2010 from Vancouver Island University.