A Conversation with Dana-Lyn Mackenzie

Q: Why did you want to participate in the EDI Scholar-in-Residence program?

It was brought to my attention during the application period—I hadn’t fully realized it existed. When I looked into it, I thought this was an incredible opportunity to engage with the public and the broader UBC community, and to explore some of the things I’ve been part of for years, as well as things I’m newly looking at through this faculty lens.

I really welcomed the opportunity to give that lecture in January—it was one of the highlights of my career.

Q: What has been the highlight of the last year for you professionally?

Definitely becoming a faculty member—it’s been incredible. I feel like I’m in my dream role right now with UBC. I love sharing knowledge, and really getting into the heart of teaching. The energy I feel from the students has been exhilarating, and I feel like we’re on this collaborative learning journey together.

Being an EDI Scholar-in-Residence at IKB [the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre] is also a dream come true—I can’t believe I’ve gotten this opportunity.

I’m also one of the Leading Scholars at Green College for new faculty, which has been really eye-opening and fun. It’s exciting to connect with people who are just spreading their wings in terms of their scholarship and research—it’s given me lots of good ideas.

“I really welcomed the opportunity to give that lecture in January—it was one of the highlights of my career.”

Q: What have been your biggest professional challenges?

For the past 14 years, I’ve done a lot of this work as a staff member—over 10 years at UBC and the remainder at another post-secondary institution. That’s been really interesting and has afforded me a lot of flexibility, but some of the restrictions on being a staff member have been challenging to overcome. The expectation of a nine-to-five schedule and having less time to research and think does make some of this work challenging.

For the last year, I’ve been a faculty member in Forestry within the Bachelor of Indigenous Land Stewardship program, and I’ve seen the difference in expectations on my time. It’s been exhilarating to immerse myself in scholarship. New doors have opened up and it’s been exciting to see all the possibilities.

Q: What are you hoping to achieve in your public engagement sessions during your term as an EDI Scholar?

I’m hoping we can have really collaborative learning—really big conversations where we learn and share from each other—and that it becomes a rich space for lots of voices and thought-provoking ideas.

I want it to be non-hierarchical, not me standing at a podium talking to the audience, but all of us being equal and having a space to explore some of the things that are sitting with us as we try to untangle these threads of decolonizing and figure out what they mean.

“I love sharing knowledge, and really getting into the heart of teaching.”

Q: Are there any resources at the library that you’re hoping to access during your time as an EDI Scholar-in-Residence?

There are some great resources coming out of Australia and New Zealand about how Indigenous communities are dealing with intersectional issues, such as gender, and the best ways to move forward in terms of building capacity and strong communities, and embedding community goals with community values.

I know a lot of these things from talking to people and from my own experience as a counsellor at my First Nation, but I’d love to have strong academic explorations that I can draw from—and contribute to if there are gaps.