Member of the Order of Canada

• Awarded on: November 4, 2009
• Invested on: June 18, 2010

As an educator and volunteer, Elsie Basque has served as a role model and a champion of Native values and traditions. A survivor of the residential school system, she was the first Mi'kmaq in Nova Scotia to earn a teacher's certificate and the first Aboriginal person to teach in a non-Native school on Cape Breton Island. In both the United States and on the Shubenacadie reserve, she taught Aboriginal peoples of all ages to be proud of their cultural heritage. She has given much of her time to First Nations people, particularly seniors, and continues to be active in her community as a member of the Elders' board of directors of the Mi'kmawey Debert Cultural Centre.