British ColumbiaTruth and Reconciliation Day events held in Metro Vancouver brought Indigenous and non-Indigenous people together to reflect on the impacts of colonialism and learn about the history of residential schools.Organizers encouraged by volunteer and participant turnoutCBC News · Posted: Oct 01, 2025 1:47 AM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours agoNorm Leech hopes that non-Indigenous people will continue to build connections with Indigenous communities beyond Sept. 30. (CBC)Truth and Reconciliation Day events held in Metro Vancouver brought Indigenous and non-Indigenous people together to reflect on the impacts of colonialism and learn about the history of residential schools.B.C. made the day into a statutory holiday in 2023, but it has been marked since 2021 on a date chosen to coincide with Orange Shirt Day. In Vancouver, people of all ages and backgrounds, wearing orange T-shirts, gathered in East Vancouver at the Vancouver Aboriginal Community Policing Centre before walking through the streets to Grandview Park, about 10 blocks away. The event, which began around 10 a.m. PT, was organized by the Vancouver Aboriginal Health Society.Norm Leech, director of the policing centre, said he was encouraged by the turnout, and hopes that non-Indigenous people continue to connect with Indigenous communities.”There are potential allies and people who really want to learn and want to support the work that’s happening,” he said.”Hopefully this is not the end of it, this is just the beginning — that they come and speak with us and build relations so that it can carry on throughout the year, rather than just one day.”Dana-Lyn Mackenzie, one of the event organizers, is a criminal lawyer, a UBC lecturer in Indigenous land stewardship and an elected councillor of the Hwlitsum First Nation, based in Canoe Pass, B.C. (CBC)At the University of B.C.’s main campus, staff, faculty, students and community members gathered for an intergenerational march.Dana-Lyn Mackenzie, a lecturer who’s held multiple administrative roles at the university, was one of the organizers. In previous years, it had been primarily her and another person organizing the school’s event, she said. However, this year, there are “tons of volunteers with [a] large organizing team.”Mackenzie, of the Hwlitsum First Nation, said the day’s event honoured residential school survivors, including Sam George from the Squamish Nation, as well as intergenerational survivors. “We’re focusing on the youth and the hope and the resilience that the youth bring,” she said.Mackenzie said her grandfather, Lawrence Wilson, attended Kuper Island Residential School where he was badly abused.”That trauma passed through generations. And I am a result of his legacy and his story, as are my children,” she said.”So the thing that we are really hoping that people will carry is the education and making space for these stories and honouring the stories and the people behind them.”With files from Pinki Wong and Tessa Vikander
Truth and Reconciliation Day events honour youth and residential school survivors
