RCMP expands program on Indigenous history
‘Blanket exercise’ is designed to foster empathy among officers and cadets
An RCMP pilot project that started in Edmonton is gaining national traction in an effort to give police officers a better understanding of Indigenous history.
“It’s really powerful the emotions you see come out of people,” said Insp. Honey Dwyer, head of Aboriginal policing in Saskatchewan.
She first introduced the Kairos Blanket Exercise to a group of 54 officers in Edmonton in 2016. The program, now in its 20th year, was originally developed for the public in response to the 1996 Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. It uses roleplaying to inform people about Indigenous experiences and aims to foster better relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.
During the exercise, participants are placed on blankets which represent the north of Turtle Island, now known as Canada, Dwyer said.
“There are scripts people read throughout,” she said, noting that the exercise takes participants through 500 years of Indigenous history, starting with pre-colonization. As the exercise progresses, officers learn their fates, including the loss of territory, being torn away from family, or dying in a smallpox epidemic.
Since its launch, the RCMP has offered the training in jurisdictions across Canada and recently the Depot Division in Regina adopted the program for new cadets.
All of a sudden you look around, and you see so few blankets left. We’ve seen some people cry. Facilitators ... can bring a lot of personal experience into it.
“All of a sudden you look around, and you see so few blankets left,” Dwyer said. “We’ve seen some people cry.
“Facilitators ... can bring a lot of personal experience into it.”
Dwyer said that it’s especially important for police officers to understand the RCMP’s part in the history of the residential school system — “we’ve been there when children were removed.”
The last residential school shut its doors in 1996 in Saskatchewan.
“(The exercise) gives you a deeper understand of why you see the mistrust,” she said.
Nathalie Fehr, curriculum designer at Depot Division, first participated in the exercise in Ottawa.
“I knew it would be a great fit for our program,” she said. “Rather than sitting and having a bunch of facts ... in front of you, when you experience this ... it develops some empathy.”
So far about 160 cadets have gone through the exercise since it was introduced in early December.
Fehr said it’s integrated into larger discussions about community policing — “it gives cadets a sense of understanding.”