Our Team

JOHNNY MACK

He / Him

LL.B., LL.M. | Academic Director

Johnny Mack (Heynahmeek) is Nuu-chah-nulth from the Toquaht Nation on the west coast of Vancouver Island. He is Academic Director of the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre, and he also serves as Co-Director of Indigenous Legal Studies at the Peter A. Allard School of Law, where he is an Associate Professor.

Johnny’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, Johnny 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.

JANEY LEW

She / They

PhD | Director

Janey Lew (廖美珍)is a second-generation Chinese-Canadian, with ancestors from the Sze Yup (四邑) region of southern China’s Pearl River delta. Janey was born and raised on the unceded, ancestral territories of Coast Salish xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh and səlil̓wətaʔɬ peoples. Janey joined the IRSHDC as Interim Director in August 2025 before transitioning to her current role. As Director, Janey oversees day-to-day operations and management of the Centre, working closely with the Academic Director to provide strategic leadership across the Centre’s different areas of work. 

Janey began her career in community-based, government, and non-profit organizations serving literary and cultural arts, employment, and child and youth leadership development. She holds a PhD in Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, where her research focused on theorizing solidarity through readings of cultural activism and reciprocal representation in writing by Indigenous and Asian Canadian women. Janey was a university instructor for ten years before shifting to academic administration. Since 2015, Janey has held progressive leadership roles supporting curriculum and faculty development focused on Indigenous and anti-racist education and strategic priorities. She is also an ICF-certified coach with a specialization in equity-centred coaching and leadership development. Janey’s creative and scholarly work has been published in Asian Canada is Burning: Theories, Methods, Pedagogies and Praxes (Brill 2025), Downstream: Reimagining Water (Wilfred Laurier UP 2017), Frontiers, Event, Prism International, and RicePaper. 

KIM LAWSON

She / Her

MLIS | Community Engagement Librarian

DAVID MCATACKNEY

He / Him

MLIS | Research Manager

NAOMI LLOYD

She / Her

PhD | Senior Systems and Metadata Specialist | On Leave

RENITA BANGERT

They / Them

MA | Communications Manager

ROXANNE HONG

She / Her

Communications Coordinator

JANE GARAPICK

She / Her

Administrative Assistant | On Leave

HANNAH YAZDI

She / Her

Administrative Assistant

PARAS DEACON

She / Her

MA | Administrator Coordinator | On Leave

CLEA JONQUIL HARGREAVES

She / Her

MAS | Project Manager