Paul was also elected to her Band Council and served with them until her retirement in 1999. Elsie Paul is one of the few fluent speakers of the Tla'amin language, a language that has been identified as a Central Salish branch of Coast Salish languages. Paul has worked to help develop the Tla'amin language curriculum that is now used in School District 47 (Powell River and Texada Island, British Columbia, Canada). Paul also worked with the Tla'amin Cultural Department to aid in developing a language program for her community as well as the FirstVoices database, where Indigenous languages are recorded, archived, and revived.