Shannon Henderson

Co-Chair | Lower Mainland Region | Vancouver, BC

Shannon (Seli’xwelut) Henderson is a proud Squamish First Nation woman and a Sixties Scoop Survivor. Separated from her community at the age of three, she was later reunited with her family, a journey that fueled her lifelong commitment to healing, reclamation, and advocacy. Today, she shares sacred songs and stories from her elders and honors her late grandfather, Edward Gilbert Nahanee, an advocate for First Nations rights whose work helped shape the 2001 Supreme Court decision on Canadian Pension Plans for First Nations individuals.

With a passion for diversity, inclusion, and reconciliation, Shannon currently is the Chief Operating Officer of Orange Shirt Day Society and previously has been with Vancity. She played a key role in embedding reconciliation as a core organizational value. As a Survivor and descendant of Residential School Survivors, she has a deep understanding of intergenerational trauma and its lasting impact on families and communities. This drives her service on the boards of both the Orange Shirt Society and the Indian Residential School Survivors Society, where she continues her grandfather’s legacy of advocacy and change.