The KAIROS Blanket Exercise
In September, Mary and David Dillon toured the Woodland Cultural Centre and the Mohawk Institute Residential School in Brantford, together with members of the Tri-Regions of Antler River Watershed, Horseshoe Falls, and Western Ontario Waterways. Mary shared that eye-opening experience in this blog post.
More recently, four members of Siloam’s Healing, Education and Affirming Team (HEAT) participated in the KAIROS Blanket Exercise. In addition to Mary and David, Lynn McClary and Anne Donkervoort also attended this event held at Carling Heights arena. The Blanket Exercise was co-facilitated by Mary-Anne Kechego, a Haudensaunee and member of the Turtle Clan of Oneida Nation of the Thames, and Gloria Thomson, a Métis woman, born and raised in Thunder Bay.
Mary writes:
After removing our socks, we were invited to step onto the blankets scattered on the floor, which represented the land of Turtle Island (North America). This is a very interactive & experiential way to learn about the history and relationship between Indigenous & non-Indigenous peoples in Canada.
Gloria played the part of the “white man” while participants took on the roles of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples, as short stories and quotes were read by different individuals. These readings, some of which were very difficult to hear, covered the history before the Europeans arrived, treaty-making, colonization, and resistance. Being part of this exercise educated us about a history that many Canadians were never taught. As things unfolded, some of us were moved off the blankets, which were then taken away and we found ourselves on an area of land much smaller, some of us were banished from the community, isolated, and moved off the land altogether, and some of us died due to Small Pox, with which we were deliberately infected. Some of these experiences were not only difficult to hear but so heart-breaking and anger-inducing to think that people who claim to be Christians could treat another person this way!
Following the Blanket Exercise, we sat in a talking circle as we reflected on the experience and shared any insights we gained. We certainly gained a deeper understanding of the historical relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada, and now better understand the impact of colonization, including policies like residential schools and the Sixties Scoop.
Mary-Anne was very open about her own experiences and those of her family. Her stories were incredibly powerful and hard to believe they could happen. And yet they did. They are Mary-Anne’s stories to tell, not mine, but the experience of hearing these stories and being made more aware by the Blanket Exercise of the ways our Indigenous siblings were treated by the colonists, some of whom would be our ancestors, makes me weep. It was such a powerful experience and one that every Canadian should attend. As Maya Angelou once said, “Now that we know better, we must do better.”
by Pastor Mary Dillon