For many of the students and community members gathering at UBC Wednesday, Orange Shirt Day was about remembering the children who were taken from their families and forced into residential schools and the loved ones who never made it home.

It’s also a time to look forward to the future and make sure the new generation understands Reconciliation.

“My hope is that all Canadians will take Reconciliation and implement it into their work and their education and their personal daily lives,” said UBC student Catriona Mackenzie.

She says seeing such a large turnout for Orange Shirt Day gives her hope.

“It makes me very heart-warmed to see that people are bringing their children and trying to continue this education onto them in the next generation moving forward, and for us to remember that Reconciliation isn’t something that we just do one day a year,” she said.

“We’re gathering in a different context in 2026 than we gathered in 2025.”

Musqueam Nation Coun. Alec Guerin says it’s important for the community to come together to understand the truth, honour the events that have shaped the history of Indigenous peoples, and remain strong amid recent events he says are threatening Indigenous people.

“If you look at the group of thugs up at Tk̓emlúps, if you look at my MLA, Dallas Brodie, things are taking a bit of a turn right now,” Guerin said.

“And we have to be able to understand when we’re being manipulated and when white supremacists are feeling threatened and acting out of fear.”

Organizer Dana-Lyn Mackenzie says it’s important for Canadians to understand decolonization and for future generations to learn about the impacts of residential schools.

“People that are fighting against Truth and Reconciliation, I think those people are operating out of fear,” she said. “They are used to being the top of the pyramid. They are used to having a place of privilege, and they are scared of losing it, and the only way that they can maintain it is to say that other people’s experience doesn’t matter.”

For Catriona, the hope is that non-Indigenous people will continue to show up, listen, and learn.

“Reconciliation looks like holding space and highlighting Indigenous voices, and just continue to educate Canadians on the truth,” she said.