Orange shirts flooded the University of British Columbia’s Main Mall. It was a gathering of unprecedented scale. Side by side, strangers marched together to commemorate the residential school experience and to commit to the ongoing process of reconciliation. This was the 2021 Intergenerational March to Commemorate Orange Shirt Day hosted by STEM faculties. What an auspicious way to begin a new academic year at UBC.
Orange Shirt Day is an annual commemoration held on September 30th. But how did this begin?
In May 2013, in Williams Lake, BC, the St. Joseph Mission Residential School (SJM) Commemoration Project and Reunion events brought together former students and their families. The project was the vision of Esk’etemc (Alkali Lake) Chief Fred Robbins, a former student at SJM. Phyllis (Jack) Webstad, a member of the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation was also a student there. It was Phyllis’ shiny, new orange shirt—a gift from her grandmother in anticipation of starting school that was taken from her upon her arrival—that has become the centre of a movement dedicated to honouring survivors, and the children who never came home. Read more about Phyllis’ story in her own words here.
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Bringing Orange Shirt Day to UBC
An integral person behind the Intergenerational March to Commemorate Orange Shirt Day is Dana-Lyn Mackenzie, a member of the Hwlitsum First Nation. “My family has deep roots here,”
Dana-Lyn explains. “My parents were born in British Columbia, and the Coast Salish people, on my father’s side, have been here for time immemorial. Even my great Uncle Edward Williams, on my father’s side, has Williams Road in Richmond named after him.” With such a strong connection to the people and the land, Dana-Lyn pursued studies at UBC and became a double alumna with both a Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor degree.
Dana-Lyn subsequently practiced criminal, employment and administrative law, and held the position of Associate Director of Indigenous Legal Studies at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at UBC. Her work in Indigenous awareness, programming and student services garnered the prestigious President’s Staff Award on Advancing Diversity and Inclusion for 2016. Dana-Lyn is now a Senior Manager of EDI and Indigeneity and is cross-appointed at the Faculty of Applied Science and the Faculty of Land and Food Systems. “I am proud of UBC as not only my employer but my alma mater, with their commitment towards EDI and Indigeneity,” Dana-Lyn reflects. “I’m honored to be helping to implement the Indigenous Strategic Plan within the two faculties.”
Read the full interview here.
