Once I entered my post secondary education, I began to learn more in-depth knowledge of Indigenous history and culture but it was not until the Blanket Exercise activity that took part in EDUC 394 that truly opened my eyes to the hardships and unfairness that many Indigenous peoples faced, and are still facing to this day.
I myself am a visual learner, and although I try my best to expand my knowledge of Indigenous peoples culture, sometimes I find myself overwhelmed or not fully understanding the many details of their trauma. That all changed once we completed the Blanket Exercise as I was able to see the powerful injustice that many have lived through. Dr. Daniel Sims and Dr. Christine Young-husband were able to break the learning curve of textbook understanding and put knowledge into actions, they accomplished this by involving the entire class with scrolls filled with information on events or peoples perspectives on Indigenous trauma. They also handed out different colour indicators which then led to students listening to the verbal story of how Indigenous peoples were treated and what they lived through throughout the years. As the story went on people were asked to step away from the circle, potentially asked to fold their blankets as small as they could to indicate land being taken away, or people being asked to step off their blanket to show the importance of the event being described. An example of this would be children being taken from their families to attend residential schools and understanding the effects that lingered through those effected first hand or through family experience.
The activity was powerful and eye opening from start to finish. It allowed for myself to see the damage that has been done through the eyes of many Indigenous peoples and how the government has created injustice for so many people. I learned that although many Indigenous peoples gained small victories over time, the large hardships are too big to ignore and are still effecting many people to this day. I am looking forward to one day using this activity in a modified version depending on the grade level I will be teaching to allow for my students to get a visual and auditory understanding of the history and trauma that Indigenous peoples have lived through.
