Gertie Pierre

Resolution Health Support Worker / Elder & Cultural

Gertie Pierre is an elder from Shíshálh Nation (Sechelt First Nation) and an Indian Residential School survivor. She works with IRSSS to provide emotional and cultural support to Indigenous communities, and to provide awareness of the lived experience of survivors in educational presentations.

Gertie graduated with a Bachelor of Social Work from UBC. After graduating, she worked at the Gihanna House, Aboriginal Front Door, Aboriginal Policing Station, Carnegie Centre, and worked as a health support worker for the National MMIWG Inquiry. Currently, she works with the Indian Residential School Survivors Society as a Resolution Health Support Worker, but she’s also made valuable contributions as a Trauma-Informed Cultural Support Worker and Elder. She is also a motivational speaker for Universities, Colleges, Elementary and High Schools in the Lower Mainland. She travels to different communities to provide emotional and cultural support. She has taken formal training in resolving trauma to be able to support clients to safely work through all the pieces of their healing.