FNUC student receives Canada Post Literacy Award

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If you'd told Clarence Pine a decade ago that he was going to be a literacy role model, he probably wouldn't have believed you. But that is exactly what the 45-year-old student and father has become.

Pine is one of this year's recipients of a Canada Post Literacy Award, receiving the award for individual achievement in Saskatchewan.

Pine is originally from Serpent River, Ont. but has been living in Saskatchewan for several years.

When he was younger, Pine said, he didn't appreciate the importance of literacy or of getting an education. As he got older, however, that began to change as he realized that not having literacy skills was holding him back.

"When you don't get educated, you limit your potential," he said.

But it was when he became a father that he decided he needed to do something to improve his literacy skills and further his education.

"When I started having my children, I came to the realization that I don't want to continue the intergenerational dysfunction of family life."

Since then, Pine has made great strides in improving his reading and writing skills and in obtaining an education. He is enrolled in his fourth year of the social work program at the First Nations University of Canada. And, as the first person in his family to graduate from high school and go on to post-secondary studies, he's showing his children, and the community at large, what is possible.

But the things Pine has learned that have helped get him to where he is today aren't limited to reading and writing. He has also learned about traditional teachings, another area that was lacking in his life a decade ago.

Pine said many First Nation people are like he was--they don't have much knowledge about their culture. But, he said, that knowledge is as important as getting an education because it helps provide balance between the mental and the spiritual.

This isn't the first time Pine's efforts to improve his literacy skills have been recognized. In 2002, he was one of the recipients of a Saskatchewan Literacy Award. He was also one of the participants in the Mamawenig Aboriginal Literacy Gathering held in Fort Qu'Appelle in 2002. Pine was invited to share his story during the First Nation banquet held as part of the event.

Canada Post started its literacy awards program in 1993 as a way to recognize community-based literacy programs and celebrate the achievements of both learners and those who have helped them to achieve their goals.

Pine will be presented with his literacy award in Saskatoon on Sept. 24.