Esk'etemc elder David Belleau was one of the students celebrating at the Thompson Rivers University (TRU) Williams Lake Campus commencement on Friday, May 30, 2025.
The 82-year-old received a certificate in the Faculty of Arts general studies and said in the fall he will receive his diploma in Kamloops during TRU's convocation there.
This latest success is the culmination of years working in healing and wellness beginning in 1976. Between 1978 and 1979 he attended the Nechi Institute Centre of Indigenous Learning in Alberta to train as a drug and alcohol counsellor.
“I learned how to train people to live an addiction-free lifestyle,” he said. “I have 49 years of sobriety.”
His training took him internationally as a drug and alcohol counsellor to places such as Australia, New Zealand, the United States including Alaska, across Canada up into the Yukon and Northwest Territories. He has also trained to help people living with intergenerational trauma, often in response to their residential school experiences.
“They get stuck in it,” he said, adding he also attended St. Joseph’s Mission Indian Residential School near Williams Lake from 1951 to 1960 and from 1960 to l963, he attended Prince George College and graduated with his Grade 12.
After graduation he pursued an electrical apprenticeship.
In 2001, he was elected chief of his community and held the post until 2004.
Belleau is married to Marilyn Belleau and they have five sons and one daughter.
When asked about keeping his mind young, he smiled and answered he reads a lot.
“I like to read psychology and history,” he said. “I also work in human geography. It’s relative to residential schools.”
