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The Blanket Exercise

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The Blanket Exercise THE BLANKET EXERCISE Lorrilee McGregor, Assistant Professor Northern Ontario School of Medicine May 3, 2019 Disclosure of Affiliations and Financial Support Presenter: Lorrilee McGregor Affiliations: • I have no relationships with for-profit or not-for-profit organizations. Financial Support: • This session/program has not received financial or in-kind support. Learning objectives: 1. To engage participants in the historic relationship between Europeans and the Indigenous nations, and in the history of colonization of the lands we now call Canada. 2. To make it clear that Indigenous peoples continue to exist as living communities and continue to have distinct rights and identities as nations, under the treaties and the Constitution. 3. To help participants explore and begin to acknowledge the continuing impact of colonization on Indigenous communities. 4. To put the impact of colonization and Residential Schools into a wider context. Format for the Blanket Exercise 1. Background on KAIROS 2. Your role as a participant 3. Terminology and concepts 4. Moving onto the blankets 5. Script (roles: narrator, European, Indigenous peoples) 6. Debrief 7. Now what? KAIROS • Ecumenical organization that includes 11 churches and religions that work for human rights and ecological justice through research, education, partnership, and advocacy. • The Blanket Exercise was originally created in 1998 following the release of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. It was revised in 2013. • “…intended to raise awareness of the nation-to-nation relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada.” • “…to deepen understanding of the denial of Indigenous peoples’ nationhood throughout Canadian history.” • “…examines how federal policies and programs impact the lives of Indigenous peoples in Canada, and identifies what Indigenous peoples and their allies are doing to bring about positive change.” Your role as a participant • The Blanket Exercise is designed to invite people to walk in the shoes of Indigenous peoples. This does not mean that you pretend to be Indigenous rather it is meant to be a space for imagination and reflection. • Emotions: Talking about the experiences of Indigenous peoples is not an easy one. You may feel unsettled, angry or sad as a result of participating in this exercise. • For some, this exercise may bring up difficult memories. The realities described in this exercise are not abstract or safely distant for any Indigenous community. Terminology and concepts • Indigenous, Aboriginal, First Nations, Inuit and Métis • Europeans • What is a treaty? • What does it mean to be a sovereign nation? • Assimilation Indigenous, Aboriginal, First Nations, Inuit and Métis • Indigenous – “descendants of the people occupying a territory when the colonizers arrived” (Sharon Venne) • Aboriginal peoples in Canada – The Constitution Act, 1982 recognizes three groups of Aboriginal peoples: “Indians”, Métis and Inuit • First Nation is preferred to Indian. First Nation refers to both people and communities. • Métis – descendants of French and Scottish fur traders and other early settlers, and Cree, Ojibwe, Saulteaux, Assiniboine and other Indigenous women. • Inuit – Indigenous peoples in northern Canada and other northern countries Europeans • For this exercise, Europeans means two distinct but related things. The European character represents the European empires during early contact, and all the power and wealth that came with them including the British and the French but also Spanish, Dutch and others. • Most of the laws you’ll be hearing about in this exercise came from the British and then from the Canadian government. • At the same time, the European character also represents explorers and the settlers – the ordinary people who often came here to escape poverty or violence, or were brought here against their will. What is a treaty? • “Treaties are agreements between sovereign nations. They are recognized by other nations; they are international. • Hundreds of treaties of peace and friendship were concluded between the European settlers and First Nations during the period prior to Confederation. • Treaties were intended to create peaceful co-existence and the sharing of resources. But after Confederation, the European settlers used treaty making as a tool to take over vast areas of land. • For Indigenous peoples, treaties outline the rights and responsibilities of all parties to the agreement and they are very much alive today. • Treaties should involve all Canadians equally, yet many Canadians hardly know treaties exist.” What does it mean to be a sovereign nation? • “A sovereign nation has the right to self-determination and has a government and territory that is recognized by other nations. • While European nations focus on the protection of individual rights, Indigenous nations centre on collective rights such as land, language, spiritual traditions, and self-government, to name a few. • The Indigenous struggle for sovereignty is a struggle for nationhood, and many believe that the recognition of Indigenous nationhood will make Canada stronger. • The historic “peace and friendship” treaties are central to sovereignty and nationhood as they address how to co-exist as distinct peoples.” Assimilation • “Assimilation is the process of absorbing one cultural group into another. This can be done through harsh and extreme state policies such as removing children from their families and placing them in the homes or institutions of another culture. • Forcing people to assimilate through legislation is cultural genocide because the goal is to completely erase or absorb a culture.” Any questions before we get started? • Need a volunteer to play the role of the European • Everyone else find a place on the blankets • Debrief in a circle • Now what?.
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