It is official, Kristin Kozar is the Executive Director of Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre. Her appointment is official as of October 18, 2023. Kozar’s affirmed position with the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre is a welcomed and celebrated announcement.
“On behalf of the staff and partners of the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre, I am delighted to see Kristin Kozar officially take on the role of Executive Director,” says Dr. Tricia Logan, Academic Director, Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre.
Kozar has been the interim Executive Director since 2022. In her leadership she has expanded the team while building transparency into the work of the Centre. She is working collaboratively with senior staff and managers to establish a robust strategic plan for the Centre. The Centre’s work, going forward, will be grounded in Coast Salish traditional protocols and Indigenous ways of knowing.
“Kristin carries with her, teachings and community-based knowledges that guide the work and strengthen her resolve when she advocates definitively for Indigenous rights, especially for rights to information and data sovereignty,” says Dr. Logan.
Kozar is deeply committed to being in service to Survivors, intergenerational Survivors and all Indigenous Peoples. Her work directly advocates for Indigenous communities right to data sovereignty and is reflected by her strengthening collaborations and partnerships between Indigenous communities across British Columbia and the Centre. Kozar’s vision is to ensure that Survivors and their families have greater access to records, which includes walking alongside communities in their healing journey and determination to share their truth, as well as to establish and manage their own records.
“Kristin works and leads with care and with a respectful dedication to supporting Residential School Survivors and intergenerational Survivors,” says Dr. Logan.
“I am extremely grateful to Kristin for her thoughtful leadership since becoming interim Executive Director in 2022, and am thrilled that with this appointment she will continue to advance the invaluable work of the Centre,” says Dr. Gage Averill UBC Vancouver’s Provost and Vice-President, Academic
Kozar has answered the calls of Survivors by initiating the Oral Testimony Program where Survivors can share their truth, histories, and testimonies about their experience with Residential Schools. She has also partnered with Amber Kostuchenko, Stó:lō Research and Resource Management Centre on the research project, Mistreated: The legacy of Indian hospitals in BC and Alberta.
Kozar has substantial professional experience in the corporate world through her previous work as a regional district manager, as well as academic experience as a professor at the UBC iSchool. A proud member of the Hwlitsum First Nation, Kozar brings a wealth of traditional knowledge with her that grounds the work the staff at Centre does with Indigenous communities and in their day-to-day responsibilities.
“Kristin is an exceptional mentor and colleague, who leads through partnership, to ‘walk alongside’ team members with integrity and transparency, demonstrating how lateral kindness can support transformative change,” says Dr. Logan.
Our hearts are with all those affected by these institutions, and with the First Nations impacted by this news. Read Cara McKenna’s coverage of this announcement for Indiginews.
Professor Johnny Mack has been appointed Academic Director at the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre (IRSHDC), effective May 1, 2025, for a three-year term. Situated at the intersection of academic inquiry, historical truth-telling, and community engagement, the IRSHDC plays a vital role in advancing UBC’s academic mission by supporting Indigenous Peoples’ rights to truth, justice, and healing. By centering Survivor experiences, stewarding access to Residential School records, and advancing Indigenous-led scholarship, the Centre fosters deeper understanding of colonial histories and their ongoing impacts, while contributing to the decolonization of education and the broader academic landscape.
Johnny Mack (Heynahmeek) is Nuu-chah-nulth from the Toquaht Nation on the west coast of Vancouver Island. He is currently an Associate Professor at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia, where he also serves as a Co-Director of Indigenous Legal Studies.
Professor Mack’s research explores Indigenous legal traditions, settler law, legal pluralism, and Indigenous–state relations, with particular attention to the epistemic and political structures that shape recognition, resurgence, and law. His work has appeared in law, business, and interdisciplinary journals, and he is the author of Turning Sideways: Intimate Critique and the Regeneration of Tradition (2024), which anchors his current book project. He is also Co-Director of the Balance Co-lab, an Indigenous-led international research collective that supports Indigenous self-determination by co-developing decision-making tools, research, and impact assessment processes grounded in Indigenous values and legal orders. The Co-lab’s work spans Turtle Island, Aotearoa, and Latin America, and is supported by a $2.5M SSHRC Partnership Grant.
A dedicated educator, Professor Mack has been honoured with both the George Curtis Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence and a UBC Killam Teaching Prize. His PhD studies were supported by a Joseph-Armand Bombardier SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship and a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Doctoral Scholarship. He currently serves on the Indigenous Community Leaders Circle with the Real Estate Foundation of British Columbia.
I would also like to thank Dr. Tricia Logan for serving as the interim Academic Director of the Centre since the Fall of 2022. During her time as Academic Director, Dr. Logan oversaw a wide range of publications, events, and relationship-building between the Centre and Survivor communities. She has been an invaluable member of the team, infusing all of her work with wisdom, care, and commitment.
Dr. Logan would like to welcome Professor Mack to the role: “At the IRSHDC, our community of support, care and of Indigenous knowledge holders has grown over the years, and it is so exciting to welcome Professor Mack into his new role and into this community. I’m honoured to be a continuing part of the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre’s community and excited for the staff and all those affiliated with the Centre to imagine new work, along with Johnny’s expertise and enthusiasm. Professor Mack and I have talked about the ongoing work with Survivors, intergenerational Survivors and Indigenous community members. I know the knowledge and teachings he carries with him have prepared him well for the responsibilities and opportunities ahead.”
I welcome Professor Mack to this new role and look forward to working with him and the entire team at the Centre as they continue to uplift, honour and support Survivors and Intergenerational Survivors. Again, the IRSHDC plays a critical role in cultivating academic excellence and impact in a global context—advancing UBC’s commitments to academic community by supporting faculty as educators, researchers, and mentors, while deepening engagement with Indigenous knowledges and communities. This appointment also reflects our ongoing efforts to activate the Indigenous Strategic Plan across the academic ecosystem and to ensure that inclusive, responsive scholarship remains central to UBC’s purpose.
Gage Averill Provost & Vice-President, Academic, UBC Vancouver
The history of the Indian Residential School system in Canada is not a matter of opinion or debate. The documented facts – including Survivor testimonies, government and church records and physical evidence of unmarked burials – are well-established and publicly accessible. These facts have been acknowledged by federal and provincial governments, churches and independent commissions, including the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.
Denial of Residential School history is a harmful act that disregards the lived experiences of Survivors and their families. Denying or erasing the facts and histories of Residential School takes an unjust toll on Survivors, their families and their communities. It is often linked to broader efforts to erase historical injustices and undermine accountability, justice and reparations owed to those who faced violence and injustice. Erasing memory and disbelieving truths about violence only perpetuates harm.
The Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre (IRSHDC) at UBC is committed to ensuring that records related to Residential Schools remain accessible, respected and preserved, particularly those in British Columbia. Our work is grounded in supporting Survivors, Intergenerational Survivors and their communities by facilitating access to records and documented truths.
The Centre holds records affiliated with the government of Canada, its provinces, both Catholic and Protestant church records, and Survivor and community records on Residential Schools and Indian Hospitals in Canada and B.C.
The Centre partners with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, the Royal B.C. Museum and Archives, Library and Archives Canada, and other institutions to uphold the integrity of these records and share the history and lasting impacts of the Residential School system.
March 24 is World TB Day, in recognition of the day in 1882 when Dr. Robert Koch announced the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the germ that causes tuberculosis (TB).
In 1952, on the Stony Reserve in Alberta, Bella Two Young Men was taken away from her husband and forcibly kept in a segregated hospital for tuberculosis treatment. Her husband Lot Two Young Men tried time and time again to get his wife back home. He wrote letters and made appeals to the local Medical Superintendent. He refused to give up the hope that he would see his wife again.
In the officials’ eyes, there was never any chance that Lot Two Young Men’s pleas would be heard. In fact, the global battle against tuberculosis was about to escalate the settler colonial genocide against Indigenous communities in Canada.
The Indian Health Regulations recognized two classes of people: “Indians and non-Indians”. The regulations themselves only applied to those considered to be “Indians”. The Canadian government and the Canadian Tuberculosis Association had long viewed the rising rates of TB among Indigenous populations as due to a state of “racial carelessness”1: Indigenous peoples were viewed as ignorant and careless of their health. The state used this viewpoint as an argument for segregating Indigenous peoples presumed to have TB from the general population – Indigenous peoples were positioned as a danger to white families, who had been seeing decreased rates of TB due to advances in medicine and care practices. A limited number of state- and church-run Indigenous TB sanatoria or “Indian hospitals” had been in existence for over a decade already, keeping Indigenous patients separated from their families and communities and often subjected to the same or worse abuses many of them faced in Residential Schools.
The horrific impacts of Canadian government regulations on Indigenous communities were covered up with “false benevolence” – a performance of care and concern that masked a desire for control and assimilation. Justifications for systemic oppression were made over and over again: it was the mandate of the state, and the churches to “ensure” that Indigenous communities were cared for, because they could not care adequately for themselves. When it came to TB, these justifications were even more emphatic. In a 1936 article, David Stewart, Medical Superintendent of the Sanatoria Board of Manitoba, wrote, “We are the guardians of the Indians, we, the people of Canada… The world suffers increasing spasms of conscience about what is done by dominant peoples like ourselves with native races such as the Indians.”2 Forced medical care was presented as a kindness.
When many of these patients died, the state required the patients’ family to bear the cost of their return to their land – often, patients were buried in unmarked graves and their whereabouts were left unknown to their communities.
The regulations took the existing segregated system and made it still more oppressive: now, it would be illegal for an Indigenous person to refuse medical assessment or to be sent to a hospital. In a 1953 letter, Deputy Minister of National Health G.D.W. Cameron wrote, “The lack of a compulsory feature in our treatment scheme has had…disastrous results for whole families”, claiming that allowing Indigenous people autonomy over their health resulted in them infecting their own families and communities. Having lost family members to Residential Schools and Indian Hospitals, Indigenous peoples who were targeted by health officials would sometimes refuse Western care. After the new regulations, anyone who refused to comply could be fined or jailed.
To ensure compulsory care, the Indian Health Regulations conferred special enforcement powers to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Under the new regulations, the RCMP were empowered to forcibly bring patients to Indian hospitals, ensure that nonconsensual examinations were conducted, and oversee the detention of patients who were deemed noncompliant. In some cases, police officers were actually given permission to undertake medical procedures themselves in the absence of a state health official, particularly in Inuit territories.
The regulations stressed that, although Indigenous communities strongly objected to the use of police force and indefinite detention, “…it is necessary to take compulsory action.” Empowering police force under the guise of false benevolence served to further cement the fears of non-Indigenous communities regarding Indigenous people, making them seem dangerous, a threat to public health, and in need of state control.
The 1953 Indian Health Regulations are just one piece of a story that is deeply interconnected with the history and ongoing impacts of the Indian Residential School system. Indian Hospitals and Indian Residential Schools were designed to work together in the Canadian state’s larger mechanism of assimilation at all costs. The ongoing discrimination against Indigenous peoples, and the ongoing disparity in health and healthcare for Indigenous community, is directly linked to this history.
The Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre is working to tell some of the stories of TB in Canada, Indian Hospitals and their Survivors, and healing from the impacts of systemic harm. Our exhibition on Indian Hospitals, “Mistreated”, will launch in collaboration with Digital Museums Canada in 2026. For more information on “Mistreated”, visit the exhibition page.
The Indian Residential School Survivor Support Society has established a 24-hour Crisis Line for former students and their families. Call: 1-866-925-4419.
Lux, Maureen K. “Care for the “Racially Careless”: Indian Hospitals in the Canadian West, 1920–1950s.” Canadian Historical Review, vol. 91, no. 3, Sept. 2010, pp. 407–434, https://doi.org/10.3138/chr.91.3.407. ↩︎
Stewart, D A. “The Red Man and the White Plague.” Canadian Medical Association journal vol. 35,6 (1936): 674-6. ↩︎
IRSHDC is saddened to hear of the passing of the Honourable Justice Murray Sinclair at 73 years old. He was instrumental in leading the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and a tireless advocate for Survivors of the Residential School system and for Indigenous rights.
Sinclair, also known by his spirit name Mazina Giizhik (the One Who Speaks of Pictures in the Sky), was a trailblazer. He was the first Indigenous judge in Manitoba and the second in Canada, serving from 1988 to 2009. An Anishinaabe leader and respected Elder whose legacy will continue to lead the generations to come.
According to his family, Sinclair died “peacefully and surrounded by love” at a Winnipeg hospital on Monday, November 4th. A sacred fire has been lit outside the Manitoba Legislative building, and Sinclair’s family is asking for those who wish to pay their respects to not light any additional fires for him out of respect for his journey home to the spirit world.
Our thoughts are with his family and all those who loved and respected him.
Filmmakers of s-yéwyáw: Awaken, WaaPaKe (Tomorrow), and Ever Deadly get candid about their own personal journeys and the intentionality of their documentaries
By Renita Bangert
“The teachings of our Indigenous Elders are needed now more than ever to navigate a changing world.”
From left: Liz Marshall, Ecko Aleck, Alfonso Salinas and Charlene SanJenko. Image courtesy of the s-yéwyáw: Awaken team.
These are the words that open s-yéwyáw: Awaken, a collaborative documentary production. Alfonso Salinas, who is a member of the shíshálh Nation is a co-writer, co-producer, and field producer of the film. Salinas says that the film’s focus on intergenerational healing is vastly important to him and his community. He chose to participate in the film to learn from the generations before him, and to pass that knowledge on to the next generation.
“I am that knowledge keeper for them,” he notes in an interview with IRSHDC. “I’m teaching them…And providing those experiences that our ancestors used to do with canoeing, drumming, singing and dancing.”
The film is co-created by Alfonso and two other Indigenous creators: Ecko Aleck from the Nlaka’pamux Nation is co-writer, co-producer and composer; and Charlene SanJenko from the Splatsin of the Secwépemc Nation is co-writer, co-producer, and impact producer.
Working alongside executive producer Liz Marshall and a team of Indigenous and non-Indigenous filmmakers, s-yéwyáw: Awaken also features Aleck, Salinas and SanJenko as contributors in front of the camera. They take part in personal and authentic conversations with their Elders, learning their cultural teachings and how the impacts of genocide and the Indian Residential School system continue to reverberate through them.
Aleck speaks with her father, Elder Terry Coyote Aleck of the Nlaka’pamux Nation. Salinas connects with both his grandfather, hiwus Calvin Craigan, and with his Elder, x wu’ p’ a’ lich Barbara Higgins of the shíshálh Nation. SanJenko, who is creating a film of her own (Coming Home for the Children), is continuing her collaboration with seven-term elected Chief Wenecwtsin Wayne Christian of Splatsin of the Secwépemc Nation.
Documentarian Marshall, who co-wrote and directed the film, says that working on s-yéwyáw: Awaken with a team who was both Indigenous and non-Indigenous shaped the entire production.
“We make it clear in the opening scene that we are working together as a cross-cultural collaboration,” she says. “We understand that in that cross-cultural collaboration…there is an understanding that decolonization is important. That work is in process.”
Dr. Jules Koostachin, who is Cree and from Attawapiskat First Nation, prioritizes and centers protocol and positionality within her productions. Within many Indigenous cultures, protocol and positionality are immensely important to doing healing work in a good way. Protocol and positionality are also a key part of Koostachin’s research and filmmaking practice.
In her 2023 documentary WaaPaKe (Tomorrow), she brings an especially personal focus to her work, featuring herself and her family as participants. As in s-yéwyáw: Awaken, each of the participants in Koostachin’s film are Survivors or Intergenerational Survivors.
Dr. Jules Koostachin in WaaPaKe (Tomorrow). Image courtesy of the National Film Board.
Through interviews with Koostachin as both the interviewer and the interviewee, WaaPaKe (Tomorrow) asks, “who are we without our intergenerational trauma?” Koostachin says it’s a painful question to address.
She goes on to say that in order to begin healing from trauma, “you’ve got to talk about it. You’ve got to expose it…And that’s what this film is.” It’s deeply intimate, and cultural safety must be considered when unearthing the deep-seated trauma of Survivors and their kin.
“My mom’s a Survivor…So it’s always been something that’s plagued our family continuously,” Koostachin says. “My mom would share these, like, horrific stories growing up.”
The ways in which Survivors choose to share their stories (and what they choose to share) matters, too. “There are some people that are healed by talking about [trauma], and some people that heal by not talking about it,” Inuk singer, composer and author Tanya Tagaq says. “We always have to be respectful of everybody’s process on how to deal with these sorts of situations.”
Tagaq is from Iqaluktuuttiaq, and is both a Survivor and Intergenerational Survivor. For her film Ever Deadly, a documentary that is part improvised concert and part personal story, Tagaq brings forth her relationship with her own traumas as well as her family’s personal and cultural losses. However, she says the way she frames her story is key: “It’s very important in my work to address trauma on more of a collective, to address it in a cultural sense. And, to address themes of trauma more than, direct personal experiences.”
She combines her relationship with her art, her evolution of throat singing (drawn from the traditional Inuit katajjaq), her connection to the land and her family story in a way that feels personal, but retains her autonomy and choice.
Tanya Tagaq and her mother, Mary Gillis. Image courtesy of the National Film Board.
Salinas says that deciding which parts of ceremony and cultural practice could even be safely depicted in s-yéwyáw: Awaken required serious consideration on his part and on the part of the filmmaking team as a whole. However, the value of the film as an archive of teachings from Elders helped him to make those decisions.
A few scenes in particular depict ceremony and spiritual connection in moments that feel particularly raw. At the end of the film, we see a canoe awakening ceremony featuring Elder x wu’ p’ a’ lich, Barbara Higgins of the shíshálh Nation. Salinas says that he had some hesitation about capturing something so sacred on film.
“I talked to Barb and her daughter about it being filmed,” he says, “and they said that they think it’s a good thing.” X wu’ p’ a’ lich Barbara Higgins passed away in November of 2023 – Salinas says having these remembrances of her in s-yéwyáw: Awaken feel all the more sacred now.
“The story was going to be my story. I felt like it would be good to capture, especially with my Elders.”
Koostachin echoes the importance of consultation and relationality, in WaaPaKe (Tomorrow) and in Indigenous filmmaking as a whole.
“I think the stakes are high for us as Indigenous folks in terms of sharing our story, because these are our relationships,” she says. “So, we’ve got to make sure we take care of each other.”
“…I realized really quickly how vulnerable you can be when you’re sharing these kinds of stories. So, I thought, okay, if I’m going to ask these guys to share, like, people that I really care about to share their story, then I need to be part of the story as well.”
The opening scene of Ever Deadly is a long single shot of Tagaq and performance artist, Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory, performing katajjaq together. It is an extremely intimate and vulnerable moment, yet powerful, and it immediately situates the film in place on Tagaq’s ancestral land. When Tagaq speaks to her mother Mary Gillis about her experiences with displacement later in the film, this positionality helps build a container for the conversation within the film.
Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory and Tanya Tagaq throat singing in Ever Deadly. Image courtesy of the National Film Board.
“Canada did its business with us and relocated many of us,” Tagaq says. “It was a harrowing experience for my mother, and a lot of people don’t understand how older Inuit speak.” In Inuktitut, there is no embellishment – words are taken literally.
Tagaq adds, “So when my mother could say a sentence like we almost starved, it’s very difficult to say that to somebody here down in the South. You could say, I almost starved and they go, Oh, like, what did you skip dinner? Whereas her as an Inuit, you know, it really means she almost starved, like they almost didn’t make it.” Leaving space for stories to be told according to the teller is deeply important to Tagaq and to Ever Deadly’s structure.
In an early scene in WaaPaKe (Tomorrow), Jules lovingly teases Asivak when he makes a mistake while speaking Cree. It is a tender and personal moment that reflects their closeness and breaks the “fourth wall” to show the closeness of the entire film’s production.
Koostachin filmed conversations with her mother Rita Okimawinninew, who is Cree from Attawapiskat First Nation, as well as her son Asivak Koostachin, who is also Cree from Attawapiskat First Nation, as well as Inuk from Inuvik, North West Territories. She also speaks with friends Joseph Dandurand of Kwantlen First Nation (director of the Kwantlen Cultural Centre) and Maisie Smith, an Indigenous counsellor who is Tlingit and Northern Tutchone from Champagne and Aishihik First Nations. In each of the conversations, Koostachin’s commitment to sharing the vulnerability of the process is clear.
Marshall says that making films like these is providing a source of hope and healing to both creators and viewers. When asked about the teachings she has carried with her from the experience of co-creating s-yéwyáw: Awaken, she references Elder hiwus, Calvin Craigan.
“He says that what gives him hope is seeing the younger generation…carry themselves with dignity. And that is exactly the essence of what the film is communicating, actually – it’s that dignity.”
The Elders of s-yéwyáw: Awaken, top to bottom: x wu’ p’ a’ lich Barbara Higgins, Chief Wenecwtsin Wayne Christian, , hiwus Calvin Craigan, and Terry Coyote Aleck. Image courtesy of the s-yéwyáw: Awaken team.
In Koostachin’s experience, healing must be a multi-generational process, and she is witnessing it even as she does this work.
“I feel like I’m already seeing it with my kids,” she says, “like, they don’t have to carry that same weight that I do.” She says she wants to see her children soar. When she speaks with her son Asivak in WaaPaKe (Tomorrow), the power of intergenerational knowledge transfer is clear – he expresses his hurt and anger openly, along with his hope for the future.
Koostachin says this is more than a personal journey. It’s a matter of life and death for Indigenous communities, and she has already lost family members to the ongoing impacts of Residential Schools.
“This has such a horrific weight on families and communities. And if we don’t start talking about it, more people are going to pass away.”
Koostachin says that even though she knows this work is vital, it’s still incredibly difficult to be so open with one’s trauma. When reflecting on being called “brave” for the vulnerability of WaaPaKe (Tomorrow), she retorts, “Oh, damn straight! This is probably the bravest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
“Guilt and shame always lead to fear and anger. It’s about being able to forgive yourself for what you have to carry.”
-Tanya Tagaq
“It’s sometimes hard to forgive yourself, too,” says Tagaq, speaking about the process of healing from trauma that has fundamentally shaped you. “Guilt and shame always lead to fear and anger. It’s about being able to forgive yourself for what you have to carry.”
WaaPaKe (Tomorrow), s-yéwyáw: Awaken, and Ever Deadly are more than media to be consumed passively. These films ask the audience to engage directly, to witness, and to intertwine these stories with them.
Tagaq says that audience matters – “I would tell a completely different story in a room full of Indigenous people.” When asked what she would say to a Survivor audience watching Ever Deadly, she says, “At least we don’t have to be alone. At least we go through it together.”
Marshall says the first thing viewers of these films can do to actively take part in the storytelling process is to commit to the films themselves.
“If you allow yourself to turn off your devices,” she says, “and give yourself the time and space to watch a 90-minute film, in a fully engaged, present way, that’s step number one.”
The teachings in these films go beyond a basic history of the Indian Residential School system and its ongoing impacts in the interest of stories that go deeper. Koostachin says that it’s important for settlers to take responsibility for their own learning.
“I think it’s so important for people to know the history of this place,” she says. “But not just the colonial one…the Indigenous one, like the first one.”
Asivak Koostachin in WaaPaKe (Tomorrow). Image courtesy of the National Film Board.
When Salinas thinks about the impact of Indigenous documentary and how to continue the healing process, he says the future is built on collaboration and growth between Indigenous and settler communities – the creation of s-yéwyáw: Awaken is a microcosm of what that could look like.
“I think one of the biggest parts is learning about genocide and then how we can heal together moving forward. ‘Cause it’s not just Indigenous people that have to heal. It’s pretty much the whole country. And this film is a part of that.”
“We’re creating something for future generations,” says Koostachin. “I am making this film, so 50 years down the road, people know this is real. This is what happened. You can’t erase me.”
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Join the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre for screenings of s-yéwyáw: Awaken, Ever Deadly and WaaPaKe (Tomorrow).
Check out Pt 2 of our interview with members of Virago Nation – we’re chatting with Ruthe Ordare, RainbowGlitz and Monday Blues about how their queerness intersects with their Indigeneity, and how they’re bringing their cultures and identities to their art.
Our first video of our interview with members of Virago Nation is live! Hear Ruthe Ordare, RainbowGlitz and Monday Blues share their places and people, how they came to perform with Virago Nation, and what queerness means to them.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of our conversation with Ruthe, Rainbow and Monday!
Earlier this year, we launched our Self-Guided Tour Manual. This is a tool to help you navigate the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre and learn about our work and collections. You can visit us anytime our gallery is open and take a self-guided tour!
Read on to find out more about what’s on our self-guided tour and how to take a tour on your own.
What’s on the tour?
The tour will introduce you to the building itself as well as the work we do here at IRSHDC. You’ll begin the tour at the front of the building, where you’ll learn about all the elements of design that went into creating our space. Many elements that are important to Coast Salish culture can be found in and around the building, from copper to cedar.
When you are ready, you will travel down to our gallery space, where you’ll be introduced to our collection and how to access and learn about Residential School records and Survivor testimony. You’ll find instructions for how to operate our Interactive Wall, as well as other methods for accessing information within the space.
Where do I find the self-guided tour manuals?
You can access either a print or digital version of our tour manual. If you’d like a print version of the manual, you can find them at the front desk outside of our gallery during open hours – please ask a staff member for help if you need it!
If you’d like to access a digital version of the manual that you can read on your phone, you can find a PDF copy here on our website. There is also a QR code that you can scan at the front desk outside of the gallery. This will bring up the same PDF, which you can then use to guide you on your tour.
What if I have questions during my self-guided tour?
IRSHDC staff are happy to help you with any questions you might have while you are on your tour. During the hours that the gallery is open, we will always have a docent on shift at the front desk. They are on hand to welcome you and to assist you with any questions on further resources or how to operate the various features within the gallery.
What should I do after I take a self-guided tour?
Remember to take time to process the information you’ve learned on your tour. You will be interacting with materials that contain distressing details. If you find yourself experiencing strong emotions, know that this is normal and take the time you need to reflect. IRSHDC has several spaces where you can take a break, whether it be just outside the gallery itself or out in the courtyard where you can have some fresh air. Find further wellness resources on our website.
Once you have processed the initial information you received on the tour, consider what you would like to do with the things you have learned. You may identify a need for further education, in which case you can continue reading through our Collection, sign up for our newsletter, or continue finding resources in whichever way feels best to you. It is important to witness and educate ourselves on the ongoing impacts of the Residential School system on Survivors and Intergenerational Survivors. It is also important that this learning is shared and allowed to grow. Continue on your own learning journey, and think about how you can share what you learned with your own community.
June is both Indigenous History Month and Pride Month in so-called Canada. Here at IRSHDC, we recognize the ways in which the ongoing impacts of the Indian Residential School system continue to impact the lives of Indigenous people. We also want to recognize the importance of lifting up Indigenous joy and creativity. Queer Indigenous people exist on multiple intersecting margins – this month and always, we celebrate and support them.
To mark both Pride and Indigenous History Month, IRSHDC had the honour and joy of speaking with members of Virago Nation. Virago Nation are an all-Indigenous burlesque troupe who have been performing since 2016. As their website says, they seek to show their audiences that, “heteronormativity is inherently colonial and that queerness is a gift to be celebrated.” They highlight body and sex positivity, uplifting Indigeneity, femme & feminine empowerment, and joyful queerness.
In 2019, Virago Nation became a non-profit – Virago Nation Indigenous Arts Society – in order to connect with as many Indigenous communities as possible.
We spoke with Virago Nation members Ruthe Ordare, RainbowGlitz, and Monday Blues about queerness, Indigeneity, how their roots inform their art, and how they’ve built and continue to grow in community.
Stay tuned to our social media for highlights from this conversation, and watch the full interview when it launches later this month!
See Virago Nation performing on June 21 at Evergreen Cultural Centre for Indigenous Peoples Day, and headlining Vancouver Pride on July 26.
The Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre (IRSHDC) is opening its doors to the UBC Vancouver community to highlight its important role on campus. Ahead of the first Open House on April 15, we spoke with Executive Director, Kristin Kozar about how the IRSHDC staff support Residential School Survivors and her plans to expand the centre’s role in supporting teaching and learning at UBC.
What is the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre (IRSHDC) and what is its role on campus?
The IRSHDC is a shared space that encourages dialogue about the Residential School system and the on-going impacts of colonialism in Canada.
The IRSHDC supports Residential School Survivors, intergenerational Survivors and their families in accessing and researching Residential School records. It also facilitates research within communities on these issues.
The centre supports teaching and learning for the wider UBC community by hosting various film screenings and exhibitions about Canada’s colonial history and the ongoing impacts of the Indian Residential School system. For example, in fall of this year, the IRSHDC will host an exhibition called: Our Future, Our Children: The Indian Child Caravan 40 years later. This exhibition will educate visitors about the march and demonstration in Vancouver on Thanksgiving weekend 1980 in opposition to the disproportionate number of Indigenous children being apprehended from the Splatsin community. It charts the story of the Splatsin community which were the first to implement a band by-law regarding child welfare.
The centre also hosts a range of programming such as the annual Intergenerational March to commemorate Orange Shirt day on September 30.
The general public are also welcome at the centre, where they can view records on the Residential School system and learn about truth and reconciliation. Our gallery space, has an interactive touchscreen wall that provides information on different Residential Schools throughout BC, plus events and documents related to the Residential School system. We also have an intergenerational corner where families of all ages can learn about Residential Schools and other colonial policies through age appropriate books.
How does the IRSHDC contribute to making UBC a leading university globally in the implementation of Indigenous peoples’ human rights?
Indigenous rights remain central to the work of the IRSHDC and we embody the work of the UBC Indigenous Strategic Plan.
The advocacy and activism of Residential School Survivors resulted in the 2015 Truth and Reconcilliation Commission (TRC) Calls to Action. The role of the IRSHDC, in this post-TRC era is to host research, education, programming and space for dialogue on what reconciliation means. Through our services, we explore how changes to government policies related to many segments of Canadian society are inherently connected to the truths of Residential School Survivors and how broad reaching the intergenerational effects have become.
Our work directly contributes to a number of goals stated in UBC’s Indigenous Strategic Plan.
In alignment with goal 2, we actively advocate for the truth by helping Survivors access their records. We also facilitate open dialogue through events, exhibits and our library and archive collections. Goal 3 – moving research forward – is reflected in our Oral Testimony Program which centres Indigenous communities and is led by their goals, initiatives and protocols.
Indigenizing the curriculum (goal 4) is part of our remit. I teach Information Practice and Protocol in Support of Indigenous Initiatives in the School of Information. My colleague Tricia Logan teaches two courses in the First Nations and Indigenous Studies curriculum, examining access to records in the Indigenous communities, and Structures of Settler Colonialism. Our aim is to help students question the neutrality of existing data and the importance of Indigenous ways of data collection and sharing.
In keeping with goal 5 – enriching our spaces – the IRSHDC was designed by the first Indigenous graduate of UBC’s architecture program. Featuring several symbolic architectural elements, it reflects the diversity of the Indigenous Peoples of Canada and provides a thought-provoking space for events on the Vancouver campus.
We are actively working to recruit more Indigenous staff (as stipulated by goal 6) and, at all times, we endeavor to create a holistic system of support for Indigenous faculty, staff, students and wider community (goal 8).
In conversations with your staff, what have they highlighted as some of the IRSHDC’s most impactful achievements?
Our staff value the work they do in helping support community research, outreach and Survivor requests for records and information. They are particularly proud of the development of the Oral Testimony Program at the Centre which has supported both recordings of testimonies as well as important dialogues on consent, access and the ethics of respectful engagement.
A lot of work has gone into building trust and safe spaces for dialogue. It has been gradual and our staff recognize that it’s of great importance to all the work the Centre does. We have worked hard at building partnerships and working alongside communities that are conducting their own research for Residential School Survivors regarding missing children.
How does the IRSHDC support Indigenous students, faculty and staff at UBC?
Research support is available for a wide range of topics, including recording oral testimonies. We work in partnership with the Indian Residential School Survivor Society to provide health and cultural support and are looking into other offerings. We are also expanding how we provide talks and educational support. You can find out more about this at our Open House event on April 15.
What is your personal vision for the IRSHDC during your tenure as Executive Director?
I want to lead the centre according to the Indigenous ways of knowing protocol which is founded on the ancestral relationship Indigenous Peoples have with their surroundings.
I want to be in service to and for Indigenous communities. I want to bring more awareness when we are talking about Indigenous Data Sovereignty which is about the inherent rights of putting Residential School records back into the community to help find the missing children who did not make it home.
I also want to collaborate with Indigenous communities, including here at UBC. I will build and solidify relationships with the other Indigenous units on campus by nurturing, building and collaborating so we can grow from there and walk shoulder to shoulder moving forward.
How can faculty and staff learn more about the IRSHDC?
Faculty and Staff can visit our Open House on April 15, 2pm-5pm to meet me and our dedicated staff to learn about the centre, our exhibitions and our ongoing research. Our latest research is examining Indian Hospitals and the impacts that the facilities had on Indigenous people. The research will be presented in a future exhibition chronicloing the history of these hospitals and the ongoing impacts, while centering the experinces of Survivors. We would be more than happy to discuss opportunities for collaboration.
We encourage Indigenous groups, units, departments, and organizations to book guided tours of the Centre.
Need support? The Indian Residential School Survivor Support Society has established a 24-hour Crisis Line for former students and their families. Call: 1-866-925-4419. Find additional wellness resources and supports.
