PAULATUK - Peter Green looks back on what his life was like 12 years ago and thinks, "What a mess."

He was bouncing between part-time jobs and a few permanent ones, losing them all because of his sour attitude and bad behaviour.

Peter Green, left, receives his diploma from principal Cam Oulton at an Alberta Distance Learning Centre graduation ceremony in Calgary June 5, at the age of 64. - photo courtesy of Alberta Distance Learning Centre

The Paulatuk resident had left his residential school in Aklavik when he was 13. Haunted by traumatizing memories of his time there, he couldn't go back and earn his high school diploma – until he set his mind to it.

"I took an inventory of where I was at in my life and it wasn't good. I was going to prison, and oh, no, it didn't look good. So I decided that year to do something about what was happening to me and what happened to me," he said. "I said to myself then and there, 'hey, I gotta change. I need to do that. I need to take charge of who I am."

On June 5, the 64-year-old stood in front of a crowd of younger students in Calgary and received his high school diploma from the Alberta Distance Learning Centre.

"This is something I wanted to do for myself that was accomplished and I felt pretty strong in achieving it. I was determined and although it took something like 12 years to achieve, I stuck to it – I remained committed."

After he was turned down by Paulatuk's Mangilaluk School because of his age, he passed a Grade 12 equivalency test at Aurora College in Inuvik. But he decided that wasn't good enough – he could do better.

"I wanted a full diploma, with the gown, with the cap, with the celebration, with all that stuff. I wasn't just happy with a little GED," he laughed.

A friend told him about the Alberta Distance Learning Centre, and with the help of some funding from the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, he completed 46 credits by mail, finishing up his last course in February 2009. He said distance learning has been his best school experience because, though he "learned stuff that I will probably never use for the rest of my life," he also studied subjects he would never have had the opportunity to take in residential school, such as personal development, family issues, human sexuality and aboriginal culture.

Now he's trying to get back more of what residential school took from him. He began studying Inuvialuktun two months ago and expects to speak it fluently again within a year. Green's official high school diploma is on its way to Paulatuk, and he's ready to show it off.

"I'm waiting for that to arrive and once it's here, I'll be taking it here and there," he said. "People want to see it."