We're pleased to share that 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.
Read the full announcement by Gage Averill, Provost & Vice-President, Academic, UBC Vancouver.
