KAIROS Blanket Exercise a sad journey into Indigenous history
It was like gazing at a map of the world, but one turned upside-down. The KAIROS Blanket Exercise is a two-hour journey through 400 years of tragedy, and it evokes…
Needs Improvement: Educators make progress on Indigenous curriculum, but more work to do
In the wake of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s call to include more study on Indigenous issues in school curriculum, it appears educators across the country are taking the recommendations…
“We’re definitely not the best nation in the world,” school children learn about colonialism
“Getting to the truth was hard, but getting to reconciliation will be harder. It requires that the paternalistic and racist foundations of the residential school system be rejected as the…
At University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine, leaders take part in KAIROS Blanket Exercise that teaches Indigenous history and trauma
Photo by Liam Mitchell: Department chairs and senior leaders in the Faculty of Medicine participate in the KAIROS Blanket Exercise. Dr. Lisa Richardson, co-lead of Indigenous Medical Education in…
800 students learn to “combat racism and ignorance” through the KAIROS blanket exercise
The blankets represent land in Canada and the participants are the Indigenous people or European settlers Photo: Students were placed into groups and were asked to pick and sit on a…
Witness to Injustice: The KAIROS Blanket Exercise
Photo: This painting features an Onondaga Gustoweh (headgear) by Onondaga artist Josephine M. Cook for the Two Row Wampum Renewal Campaign. Posters can be purchased online. This article was…
Why this blanket exercise is now essential training for RCMP cadets
The exercise synthesizes 500 years of colonization under the observation of a local Indigenous elder. This past winter, the RCMP introduced a new educational tool at its Regina training academy:…
Blanket exercise coordinator educates non-Indigenous people about shared history of Canada
Susan Beaudin knows about the power of a blanket. The educator from Cowessess First Nation is a residential school survivor. She is also the KAIROS Blanket Exercise Coordinator for Saskatchewan.…
The KAIROS Blanket Exercise goes to Alaska
Interest in the KAIROS Blanket Exercise (KBE) is growing beyond Canada’s borders In late May I traveled to Anchorage, Alaska with Lillian Underwood, an Indigenous KBE trainer and facilitator based…
The KAIROS Blanket Exercise comes to Caledon
PHOTO: CI-BLANKET23 TORONTO, ON - NOVEMBER 23 - As part of its endeavour to get students to learn history from an indigenous perspective, the Toronto Catholic school board has introduced…