Youth step into the KAIROS Blanket Exercise

BY DONNA ROURKE

On Saturday Feb. 25, John Henry Commanda and his son Julien joined youth and adults from across Ottawa at St Aidan’s Anglican Church to deliver a KAIROS Blanket Exercise (KBE), an interactive teaching tool that invites participants to explore the historical and contemporary relationship between Indigenous and nonIndigenous people in Canada.

KAIROS, an ecumenical social justice organization, describes the experience and purpose of the blanket exercise in this way: “During the workshop, participants step on blankets representing the land and into the role of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. They are guided by trained facilitators, including Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers, who work from a script that covers pre-contact, treaty-making, colonization, resistance and much more. Participants read scrolls and respond to cues in the script. The KBE concludes with a debriefing, conducted as a talking circle, during which participants discuss the learning experience, process their feelings, ask questions, share insights, and deepen their understanding….

For almost 25 years, the Aboriginal Rights Coalition and now KAIROS have guided the KBEs development with the leadership of Indigenous Elders and facilitators. The script has been updated numerous times to reflect current events, including most recently the final reports of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.”

Photos, right: The Kairos Blanket Exercise is a teaching tool for exploring historical and contemporary relationships.

Above: The exercise concluded with a talking circle, with participants discussing what they learned and experienced.

A couple of the participants shared their thoughts on the experience:

“Thank you for all your work in bringing us together. These things are more than just a date on a calendar and some people in a room. It’s the organizers who really set the tone and nature of the gathering. Thank you for the warmth and authenticity you bring to your role and are so gracious to share with others. Miigwetch.

“This was my first experience of a

Kairos Blanket Exercise. The history shared during this experience is not new to me, but I did not learn this in school. This is knowledge and story brought into the light. Through feet on a hand stitched quilt from small bones dug from dirt and echoes on a sonar screen. This is a story shared, portioned out, given and received through voice, movement and spirit. An offering handed to each participant to hold and to carry. This was an experience of sitting and listening, sharing, grief and Hope. Beautiful, terrible, audacious HOPE. This was an experience of God’s presents in the world and the continued call to each person to carry this experience and grow as the hands and feet of Christ.”

— Dana Ducette

“I feel blessed to have been in the presence of our amazing KBE facilitators and the inspiring Youth who participated. May God continue to bless this ministry and the work that you do!”

The Rev. Claire Bramma, Assistant Curate, Parish of the Valley

My thanks go out to John Henry and his son Julien sharing their personal experiences and insights at the Blanket Exercise and for their honesty and caring. I want to acknowledge with thanks the Anglican Foundation of Canada and their Say Yes to Kids Campaign for the funding for this Blanket Exercise and to St Aidan’s Anglican Church for offering their beautiful space to us.

Donna Rourke is Animator of Youth Ministry