It Starts With Us: Truth Telling Has Launched

A first step toward truth and reconciliation


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Thank you to everyone who joined us on September 28th, 2021 for It Starts With Us: Truth Telling event to commemorate Orange Shirt Day and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

This event explored the historical and current context of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, and the significance of Orange Shirt Day. This followed on the commitments made by the Faculty of Medicine response to the Truth and Reconciliation Committee’s Calls to Action on June 25th, 2021, where the Faculty acknowledged the need to confront the cultural and personal harms imposed by colonialism and formally apologized to all those affected for the role the UBC Faculty of Medicine has played in causing and perpetuating these systems and the resulting and persistent damages.

This It Starts With Us event presented an opportunity to reflect on these uncomfortable and tragic aspects of this country’s history, and the Faculty of Medicine’s complicity in it, and how these events have shaped our experiences and relationships and continue to act as a barrier to a path toward reconciliation. We brought together a group of speakers who were willing to speak truth to us. It is imperative that we listen with open minds and hearts.

Learn more about the event and find links to view the recording and transcript of the event below.


The speakers were:

  • Dr. Dermot Kelleher, Dean, Faculty of Medicine and Vice-President of Health, UBC
  • Elder Doris Fox of xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam)
  • Dr. Alika Lafontaine, President-Elect, Canadian Medical Association
  • Deborah Cook – Anaapiiatuk, Indian Residential School Survivor
  • Derek ThompsonThlaapkiituup, Indigenous Initiatives Advisor, REDI

Download the transcript here.

Learn more about Orange Shirt Day here.


What is It Starts With Us?

It Starts With Us is our inspiring and interactive series of presentations, round table discussions, and workshops. It engages faculty, staff, and students in dialogue and encourages positive action to support the creation and sustainment of inclusive, respectful, anti-racist learning and work environments.

Find more events and upcoming sessions on REDI’s Events page


Continue Learning

“The time to make things happen is now. The time to seek out our individual and shared power is now.”

Read the Message from the Indigenous Initiatives Advisor, Derek Thompson – Thlaapkiituup, here

Discover more about REDI’s Indigenous Initiatives here