Blanket reveals stories of Indigenous people

Hear the story of Canada from Indigenous people at the interactive Kairos Blanket Exercise open to the public March 4 from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Emmanuel Church.

Since 1997, tens of thousands of people in Canada and around the world have experienced the Kairos Blanket Exercise, developed in collaboration with Indigenous elders, knowledge keepers and educators.

The workshop explores the history and contemporary relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada and engages participants on both emotional and intellectual levels to education and create understanding.

Participants take the role of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples and stand on blankets representing the land. They are guided by trained facilitators who work from a script that includes pre-contact, treaty-making, colonization and resistance. Participants read scrolls and respond to cues in the script.

The exercise finishes with a talking circle, during which participants discuss the learning experience, process their feelings and ask questions.

This Kairos Blanket Exercise costs $20 per person for those who are able to pay and includes a meal.

Everyone is welcome and payment should not be a barrier to participation.

Indigenous participants are welcome and are not asked to pay.

The exercise is also available to community leaders March 2 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at First Baptist Church in Kelowna and to Salvation Army staff and volunteers March 3 at Renew Church West Kelowna from 10 a.m. to 1:30 -p.m.

For more information and to register, go online to redclover.ca/events/kbe by Saturday.