Paul St. Pierre will be awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, at the Thompson Rivers University Williams Lake Campus convocation ceremonies on May 25 at 5:30pm.
St. Pierre is a journalist, author and former BC Liberal Member of Parliament. Born in Chicago in 1923, and raised in Nova Scotia, St. Pierre did a brief stint in the Canadian military before he began his newspaper career in British Columbia in 1945.
A columnist with the Vancouver Sun for almost 30 years, St. Pierre is best known for his fictional account of life in the Cariboo-Chilcotin. His novella, Breaking Smith’s Quarter Horse, later became a Hollywood film starring Glenn Ford, and Chief Dan George in his breakthrough role as a First Nations actor cast as a First Nations character. In the 1960s, CBC produced a TV series called Cariboo Country, written by St. Pierre and based on his stories. In 1968, St. Pierre was elected as a Liberal MP in the Trudeau government in the riding of Coast-Chilcotin. He later served as a BC Police Commissioner from 1979-83.
St. Pierre was the first Canadian winner of the Western Writers of America Spur Award for his 1983 novella, Smith and Other Events. In 2000, he received the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding literary career in British Columbia. In 2011, he was presented with the Key to the Cariboo-Chilcotin, and the Key to the City of Williams Lake, for his contributions to the region.
Paul St. Pierre embodies TRU’s commitment to community, diversity, and citizenship.
Four other Honorary Doctorates to be announced later will be awarded at the TRU 2012 Spring Convocation at the Kamloops Campus on June 14 and 15.
MORE INFORMATION
Brenda Craig
Interim Media and Communications Supervisor
Thompson Rivers University
T: 250-377-5897
C: 250-574-7080
Bcraig@tru.ca
Grace Simpson
Campus Coordinator
Williams Lake Campus
Thompson Rivers University
T: 250.392.8002
Gsimpson@tru.ca
