UBC experts and events on Orange Shirt Day 2023
September 30 is both the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day in Canada. UBC experts are available to comment.
Crowd gathered in front of the Reconciliation Pole at UBC on Orange Shirt Day 2022. Photo credit: Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre.
September 30 is both the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day. It is a date to recognize residential school survivors, intergenerational survivors and those who didn’t return home. It’s also a day to learn about and reflect on the history and ongoing impacts of the Indian residential school system and other colonial policies in Canada.
UBC experts are available to comment.
Brenna Bhandar
Associate Professor, Peter A. Allard School of Law
Email: bhandar@allard.ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Property studies, critical theory, colonial legal history
Dr. Janice Forsyth (she/her)
Professor, School of Kinesiology
Email: janice.forsyth@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Important role of sports in Indigenous resurgence today
- Sports and games as ‘quiet’ tools for resistance by the students, especially boys
- Sports and physical activities to ‘hide’ the health issues at that were rampant at school and promote schooling as a fun/productive place, all to enhance the process of assimilation
Dr. Tricia Logan
Interim Academic Director, Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre
Assistant Professor, First Nations and Indigenous Studies
Email: tricia.logan@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Residential schools, Métis history, colonialism, truth and reconciliation, histories of Indigenous Peoples, museum studies
Dr. Andrew Martindale
Professor, Department of Anthropology
Email: andrew.martindale@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Ground-penetrating radar, Member of the National Advisory Committee on Residential Schools Missing Children and Unmarked Burials (www.nac-cnn.ca)
Chiteleqches / Dr. Richard Vedan, RSW
Associate Professor Emeritus, School of Social Work
Member, Secwepemc First Nation
Email: richard.vedan@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- As a member of the Neskonlith Band of the Secwepemc Nation, a second-generation survivor, clinician and academic, Dr. Vedan can speak to history at micro to macro level, family relationships, and intergenerational complex trauma in historical and contemporary circumstances
Public events
Click here for more information on events being held at UBC around Orange Shirt Day, including the Intergenerational March scheduled for Sept. 30.
Available interviews:
Danilo Caron (he/him)
PhD student, Department of Civil Engineering
Email: danilo.caron@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- A student with roots from Castelfranco Veneto in Italy and the Sagamok Anishnawbek First Nation in Ontario
- Co-leading the Intergenerational March
Dana-Lyn McKenzie
Senior Manager, EDI and Indigeneity, Faculty of Applied Science/Faculty of Land and Food Systems
Email: danalyn.mackenzie@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Lead for the Intergenerational March commemorating Orange Shirt Day
Educational resources
To learn more about Orange Shirt Day or Indian Residential School history, visit:
