Reflection: The Blanket Exercise

On October 2nd, 2023 our class of student teachers participated in the Blanket Exercise (kairoscanada.org) facilitated by Dr.Daniel Sims with assistance from Dr. Christine Ho Younghusband and Dr.Tina Fraser.

This activity is an interactive and experiential approach to learning about the tactics and effects of European exploration and colonization on North American Indigenous territories. Scrolls were dispersed across the class representing the voices of Indigenous and European Voices, policies, diseases and doctrines put in place by the Canadian government which allowed for the colonization and assimilation of the First Nations and the lands we call Canada.

Having the narrator go over each historical event was beneficial throughout the blanket exercise since it put into perspective the actions of colonization that damaged and destroyed many Indigenous communities, cultures and histories. As each student teacher read their assigned scrolls (Representing voices of the First Nations populations), I sensed isolation, skepticism, disbelief and sadness in their words and voices. Some candidates were brought to tears in the post-activity discussion as we reflected on the exercise and the historical events we covered. I myself felt ashamed for the pain and events that we white, settler colonizers caused historically – and in some cases still cause today. Although I know that my family members (for the majority) came to Canada after the initial events of the doctrines and policies imposed on the Indigenous peoples, I recognize that I, a white person, have privileges and opportunities that many Indigenous Canadians do not, and feel shame for that and motivated to help be a part of the change.

In my future classroom, I hope to be able to use my learnings from this exercise, and perhaps the exercise itself (through the bringing in of a trained facilitator), to help my students better understand the effects that Canada’s discrimination of Indigenous Peoples, and develop empathy, recognition and respect within my students towards their fellow peers Indigenous or not.