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Alberni students explore reconciliation through Blanket Exercise

The exercise was part of the Orange Shirt Day activities at Eighth Avenue Learning Centre
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Instructors Richard Samuel and Keith Holm lead the Blanket Exercise at Eighth Avenue Learning Centre on Wednesday, Sept. 27. ELENA RARDON PHOTO

Students at Eighth Avenue Learning Centre took part in an activity called The Blanket Exercise on Wednesday, Sept. 27 as part of a series of activities for Orange Shirt Day.

The Blanket Exercise is an opportunity for students to understand colonization of the land now known as British Columbia and Canada. 16 participants started out sitting on a number of interconnected blankets that represented Turtle Island. By the end of the exercise, only three participants remained, on three separated and folded-up sections of blanket.

One student observed afterwards, “Not only were there very few people left, they were very far apart.”

Students used the exercise to explore relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada, how this relationship has been damaged over the years and how they can work toward reconciliation.

“It’s important after an exercise like this to stay positive,” said Eighth Avenue instructor Seana Wright. “What we should take away from this is that we don’t repeat the mistakes of history. We don’t want you to leave here feeling sad and hopefuless. We want to give hope.”

The Port Alberni Friendship Centre will also be holding a Blanket Exercise on Thursday, Sept. 28 from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m, and another reconciliation workshop called Building Bridges Through Understanding the Village on Friday, Oct. 13 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. You can register online.

elena.rardon@albernivalleynews.com

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Instructor Keith Holm leads students off of their blankets to represent death and disease during the Blanket Exercise at Eighth Avenue Learning Centre on Wednesday, Sept. 27. ELENA RARDON PHOTO


Elena Rardon

About the Author: Elena Rardon

I have worked with the Alberni Valley News since 2016.
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