Kitchi Blanket Exercise, June 2, 2017
More that 800 people converged on Parliament Hill for the largest Blanket Exercise ever.
The KAIROS Blanket Exercise is a visual and experiential way to represent colonization in Canada and its impact on Indigenous peoples. Kitchi means “really big” in Anishinaabemowin, the language of the unceded Algonquin territory where our settler capital is located. This really big Blanket Exercise is a coming together of hearts and minds in a collective commitment to build reconciliation based on justice for Indigenous peoples.
June 2, 2017 marked the second anniversary of the release of the TRC Calls to Action. These 94 Calls to Action are a way forward for us as a country and they need to remain front and centre in our conversations about reconciliation.
The Kitchi Blanket Exercise is also about bringing a different focus to Canada 150 – Canada’s formation includes stolen land, broken promises and cultural genocide, and we do not want this glossed over in celebrations.
Finally, it is the 20th anniversary of the creation of the KAIROS Blanket Exercise and the movement just keeps growing!
Article: Blankets were out in full force on Parliament Hill to teach people about the loss of land, life during colonization
Blog post: Hundreds participated in largest KAIROS Blanket Exercise ever
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Photos from the 2016 Mass Blanket Exercises:
Whitehorse | Winnipeg | Edmonton | Regina | Ottawa | Toronto | Charlottetown
Partnership
A large-scale Blanket Exercise on Parliament Hill is the vision of the Indigenous youth-led organization Assembly of Seven Generations (A7G). This initiative is a partnership between KAIROS and A7G.
