Mississippi Mills Staff and Council Participate in Blanket Exercise

Last week, Mississippi Mills staff and Council Members participated in the powerful KAIROS Blanket Exercise at Almonte Old Town Hall.

Approximately 30-35 staff participated in the exercise, led by Knowledge Keeper John Henri Commanda and facilitated by Rachelle Bergeron and Emile Bergeron.

The KAIROS Blanket Exercise, created in 1996, is an interactive and educational learning tool that teaches the history of colonization in Canada. It describes history from an Indigenous perspective, involving participants standing on blankets, representing the lands and territories inhabited by First Nations, Inuit and Métis people. John Henri Command served as lead facilitator, providing an oral history, while a co-facilitator plays the role of a European settler, describing first contact between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.

As the exercise progresses, blankets are folded, representing land lost by events, treaties and legislated reserves. At the end, a handful of people are left standing on small squares of blankets, which represents the number of Indigenous people who remain on their traditional land in Canada.

Following the exercise, a sacred Sharing Circle was formed where participants could offer thoughts and share how the exercise affected them.

The KAIROS Blanket Exercise represented ongoing training efforts for municipal staff on the path to reconciliation and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Call to Action #57:

“We call upon federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments to provide education to public servants on the history of Aboriginal peoples, including the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, Indigenous law and Aboriginal-Crown relations. This will require skills-based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights and anti-racism.”