Editor's Note: This article contains mention of violence against Indigenous communities, residential schools and abuse.
Marking Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30, UBC’s Faculties of Land and Food Systems (LFS) and Forestry hosted the fifth annual Intergenerational March to Commemorate Orange Shirt Day.
As crowds of students, families and Vancouverites gathered at the outdoor amphitheatre beside the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre, orange shirts, sweaters and scarves gradually filled the space. Attendees sat on benches and steps, laid on the grass and leaned against railings until the amphitheatre seen from above became an orange sea of people on the day of reflection.
The federal statutory holiday started in 2021, in recognition of the impacts of settler-colonial violence on Indigenous peoples throughout Canada’s history. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) called for a national holiday to honour survivors of residential schools and their communities in their 2015 calls to action, ensuring that “public commemoration of the history and legacy of residential schools remains a vital component of the reconciliation process.”
Dana-Lyn Mackenzie, senior manager of EDI & Indigeneity at the Faculty of Forestry and lead organizer of the march, opened the event by thanking participants and laying out the theme of this year’s programming — “honouring youth, carrying hope.” In that spirit, Mackenzie handed off the microphone to Indigenous students, including her own daughter, to introduce the various speakers and performers throughout the event.
Musqueam Councillor Alec Guerin opened with a welcome to the Musqueam land on which UBC’s Point Grey campus is situated. Distinct from a land acknowledgment, Guerin reminded listeners that this welcome was a legal tradition passed down by generations of Musqueam leaders before him. He emphasized that reconciliation is not solely awareness, but rather a responsibility that falls on every person and that stretches far beyond one single day of the year.
Guerin’s welcome was followed by a speech from MP Wade Grant, representative of Vancouver Quadra in the House of Commons and a former Musqueam councillor himself. Grant thanked government officials, including BC Premier David Eby, for their presence at the march and reminded the audience of the importance of attending and commemorating Truth and Reconciliation Day ceremonies.
An Indigenous student drumming group followed Grant, performing two prayer songs in commemoration of the victims of residential schools. Each performer then took up the microphone to introduce themselves, their nation and their connection to the trauma caused by residential schools, naming family members and loved ones who were subject to it and suffered under it. Their speeches pointed to an idea that would become a hallmark of this year’s march — that the impact of residential schools and colonial violence is not limited to those who experienced it firsthand. It reverberates across generations and shapes both Indigenous and settler communities across the continent.
Squamish Elder Sam George took the stage after the drumming group to speak on his own experiences at St. Paul’s Residential School in North Vancouver. George attended St. Paul’s until he was 15 years old, and the abuses that he experienced and witnessed there have impacted him throughout his life, he said. After leaving residential school, George became addicted to drugs and alcohol and went to jail — he found his treatment in prison greatly preferable to his time at St. Paul’s.
Though George was estranged from his children throughout his life as a result of his trauma and addictions, he’s now been sober for 35 years and has reconnected with many of his relations. He wouldn’t change his life now if he had the option, he said. As if on cue, George’s phone rang during his speech — one of his nieces, he said, likely trying to invite him out for lunch.
After George’s speech, Cree performers Mitchell Tourangeau and Aileen Michel (Li’l Bear) spoke on the impact of intergenerational trauma from residential schools — neither of them attended, but both had relatives whose trauma from the experience manifested in abuse towards their family. Tourangeau also spoke on the repercussions of the Sixties Scoop, an era of widespread abduction of Indigenous children by the Canadian government. These children were removed from their families by child welfare agents and put up for adoption into non-Indigenous families.
The pair performed a set of traditional songs, with Tourangeau drumming and singing while Michel danced in bear regalia. Complete with long furs and a bear-head hood, the regalia combined with Michel’s lumbering movements gave a lifelike impression of the animal.
With the last of the day’s opening performances complete, Mackenzie returned to direct marchers towards Main Mall and the Reconciliation Pole at Thunderbird Commons. She emphasized the weight of the subject matter being discussed and encouraged listeners to take time and reflect on their feelings and reactions.
The march’s route was lined by several signs displaying quotes from Indigenous Elders, Canadian officials, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that highlighted the brutality of colonialism and the residential school system. This invited marchers to reflect on their place in Canada, marking the march as an occasion for serious thought and introspection.
The procession down Main Mall was made up in large part of children of all ages peering out of strollers and chasing each other on the grass — though some were clearly too young to understand the context of the ceremony, many appeared to genuinely engage with the signs along the path, reading the quotes aloud to each other and talking about how the content made them feel.
Marchers making their way past the Engineering Cairn — painted bright orange — were invited to add their handprint in white paint to the monument in recognition of the children lost to the residential school system.
At Thunderbird Commons, LFS Dean David Kitts and Forestry Associate Dean, EDI Hisham Zerriffi spoke on the vital place that Reconciliation must take in land-based fields of study, the work that their respective faculties do in pursuit of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action and acknowledged the long road that still remains ahead.
After some final words and a thanks to the creator for the day’s unexpectedly dry weather from Mackenzie, the fifth Intergenerational March to Commemorate Orange Shirt Day dispersed.
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