To honour the National Day for Truth & Reconciliation, residents are invited to participate in one of three City-hosted Kairos Blanket Exercises taking place on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1.
A Blanket Exercise is an interactive and experiential teaching tool that explores the historic and contemporary relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Participants step onto blankets representing land, and into the role of First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples.
The exercise facilitators, playing the roles of a European "settler" and narrator, walk the group through a script (there is an adult script and a youth script), telling the story of the first contact between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
As the script progresses, blankets are folded and made smaller, representing the results of the loss of land by treaty and newly legislated reserves. People are asked to step off their blankets, symbolizing disease, war, and extinction.
Blankets are removed or moved to other areas, showing the way land was taken and peoples relocated. The exercise concludes with participants discussing the experience in a healing circle.
The Blanket Exercise requires participants to remove their shoes before stepping onto the blankets. As such, participants that may be uncomfortable in bare feet should consider wearing socks or other foot covering.
The Blanket Exercises are in Ladner at Harris Barn from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sept. 30, 6 to 9 p.m. at the North Delta Rec Centre and Oct. 1 from 9 a.m. to noon at the South Delta Rec Centre.
There is no registration fee to attend; however, pre-registration is required through Delta’s online registration system.
See more at: www.delta.ca. Register now through Delta's online registration system by selecting one of the above scheduled Blanket Exercises.
Visit delta.ca/truthandreconciliation to learn about the actions undertaken by the City to honour the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
In addition to these sessions available to the public, City staff have been provided opportunities to learn and reflect about this history and what we can do to help this reconciliation journey.
Staff were able to participate in and learn about the Blanket Exercise earlier this month.
Brad Marsden, an Indigenous facilitator from the Gitksan Nation, was invited to deliver a Historical Trauma and Colonization Workshop. Guest speakers, including Louis De Jaeger, Regional Director of Lower Mainland of the Metis Nation Association, and Kim Baird, former Chief of Tsawwassen First Nation, have been invited to share their stories and educate staff on what Truth and Reconciliation means and what we can do to ensure we are supporting this process.
City Hall in Ladner, North Delta Centre for the Arts, and North Delta Recreation Centre will also be lit up in orange this week as part of the commemorations and Every Child Matters flags will be flown at our facilities. And in partnership with CUPE 454 and Delta Managerial Society, the City of Delta has purchased orange shirts for staff to wear with proceeds going to the Orange Shirt Society.
