{"id":93129,"date":"2025-06-03T09:27:28","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T13:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=93129"},"modified":"2025-06-03T09:27:28","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T13:27:28","slug":"i-learned-my-language-to-be-a-teacher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/03\/i-learned-my-language-to-be-a-teacher\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;I learned my language to be a teacher&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Luke Faulks, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Pique Newsmagazine Capilano University (CapU) is set to honour Lil\u2019wat Elder Saw\u0313t Martina Pierre with an honorary doctorate in recognition of her contributions to reconciliation, empowerment and cultural preservation. Pierre is a residential school survivor and lifelong educator whose work revolves around revitalizing the Nation\u2019s traditional language\u2014for others as much as herself. \u201cI had always wanted to be a teacher, and I had always wanted to revive my culture and language and my spirituality, [my] rights as a legal person,\u201d she told Pique. \u201cAfter I had my family, I learned my language to be a teacher.\u201d Starting a community school Pierre was instrumental in starting up Lil\u2019wat\u2019s first-ever community school in the 1970s. The Nation had a day school run by nuns as&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F06%2F03%2Fi-learned-my-language-to-be-a-teacher%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Luke Faulks, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Pique Newsmagazine Capilano University (CapU) is set to honour Lil\u2019wat Elder Saw\u0313t Martina Pierre with an honorary doctorate in recognition of her contributions to reconciliation, empowerment and cultural preservation. Pierre is a residential school survivor and lifelong educator whose work revolves around revitalizing the Nation\u2019s traditional language\u2014for others as much as herself. \u201cI had always wanted to be a teacher, and I had always wanted to revive my culture and language and my spirituality, [my] rights as a legal person,\u201d she told Pique. \u201cAfter I had my family, I learned my language to be a teacher.\u201d Starting a community school Pierre was instrumental in starting up Lil\u2019wat\u2019s first-ever community school in the 1970s. The Nation had a day school run by nuns as... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F06%2F03%2Fi-learned-my-language-to-be-a-teacher%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>&#039;I learned my language to be a teacher&#039; - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/03\/i-learned-my-language-to-be-a-teacher\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&#039;I learned my language to be a teacher&#039; - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Luke Faulks, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Pique Newsmagazine Capilano University (CapU) is set to honour Lil\u2019wat Elder Saw\u0313t Martina Pierre with an honorary doctorate in recognition of her contributions to reconciliation, empowerment and cultural preservation. 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