Dr. Elsie Charles Basque is a Mi’kmaw woman, mother, Elder, and teacher. Elsie was born in 1916 and was the first Mi’kmaq in Nova Scotia to hold a teachers licence and also the first Mi’kmaq to teach in a non-native school.  Elsie spent much of her life in Boston, Massachussets where she lectured on Native issues which included topics such as the Indian Elderly, Mi’kmaw Culture and the status of American Indian People.  In 1997, Mrs basque received an honorary docrtorate from the Nova Scotia teachers college in Truro, NS. In 2005, she was awarded an honorary doctorate in education by Universite Sainte-Anne