Ucluelet’s Timmy Masso has received an Indigenous Language Revitilization Diploma from the University of Victoria. (Photo courtesy of Timmy Masso)

Timmy Masso hasn’t entered Grade 12 yet, but he’s already secured a University of Victoria diploma.

Timmy Masso is heading into Grade 12 at Ucluelet Secondary School this September, but he’s already earned a University of Victoria diploma and is halfway through a Bachelor of Education degree.

The 17 year-old Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation member is celebrating the completion of a two-year Indigenous Language Revitalization Diploma at UVic.

“Thank you to all the people who have helped me on my journey. There’s so many people, I could go on forever about all the people who helped me out,” Masso told the Westerly News.

The diploma was the second of four steps towards UVic’s Bachelor of Education degree and followed Masso’s completion of a Nuu-chah-nulth Language Proficiency Certificate program in 2019.

The certificate program was the first of its kind to be offered through UVic and was launched in partnership with North Island College and Quuquuatsa Language Society.

Masso was the new program’s youngest enrolee when he entered the class in 2018 and he had been a key voice in its fruition. As a Grade 8 student, Masso lobbied hard for more opportunities to learn the Nuu Chah Nulth language and an impromptu and impassioned speech he made to a 2016 Assembly of First Nations meeting in Victoria spurred nation-wide media coverage that provided one of the sparks needed for the Nuu-chah-nulth Language Proficiency Certificate program to be launched.

“I was advocating to get language in schools and one of the biggest issues was there were no accredited teachers to teach the language,” Masso told the Westerly News. “That was one of the biggest problems with trying to get language in the schools, so I went to meetings across B.C. and Canada trying to get someone to step up to the plate to give Elders a certificate or a degree, so they would be able to come into the school and get paid the same as the teacher for their time…Through these meetings, universities actually stepped up to the plate and said they were going to try to start putting on more programs that get Indigenous people certified as teachers.”

READ MORE: Ucluelet Secondary School seeking Nuu-chah-nulth speakers

The first certificate program was offered at Port Alberni’s North Island College campus with teachers selected by the Quuquuatsa Language Society and hired by UVic.

Masso fought hard to join the inaugural program, despite his young age, and said he was encouraged to do so by linguist Dr. Adam Werle.

“[Werle] was talking to me one day and he said that maybe it was time I stepped away from advocating and actually start trying to learn my language. So, because I fought so hard to get the class in Port [Alberni] for all the Nuu chah nulth speakers, I decided to try to enter the class as well,” Masso said.

“I told them that the only place I can actually learn my language is through their program and I have a right to learn my language, so they allowed me to be in the class.”

With the diploma in hand, Masso is now able to serve as a teaching assistant for Nuu chah nulth classes, which he hopes to do at West Coast schools. He noted he completed a practicum at Ucluelet Elementary School in November.