David McAtackney is the Research and Engagement Strategist at the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre (IRSHDC). David was born in Belfast in Northern Ireland, he has lived and worked on the traditional, ancestral and unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples since 2012. 

 

David’s work focuses more generally on the research of and facilitation of access to oral and textual records related to the colonial legacy of residential schools and other policies imposed by the Canadian government on Indigenous Peoples. 

 

He is the co-lead for the IRSHDC’s Oral Testimony Program, which supports the respectful gathering, storage, access and presentation of Survivor truths and tellings.

 

David is a Masters of Library and Information Studies (MLIS) graduate from UBC’s School of Information. He previously worked in the field of Indigenous health research in British Columbia at the First Nations Health Authority and has been active in a number of social science and health science research roles on projects with a variety of Indigenous individuals, communities and organizations.