About this Course

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation honours residential school survivors, their families, and communities, and ensures that public commemoration of the history and legacy of residential schools remains a vital component of the reconciliation process. To honour the day, City of Delta is hosting three Blanket Exercises for residents and the public to attend on either September 30 or October 1, 2022. A Blanket Exercise is an interactive and experiential teaching tool that explores the historic and contemporary relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. During the exercise, participants step onto blankets representing land, and into the role of First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples. The exercise facilitators, playing the roles of a European "settler" and narrator, walk the group through a script appropriate for youth in grades 7-10 and adults, telling the story of the first contact between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. As the script progresses, blankets are folded and made smaller, representing the results of the loss of land by treaty and newly legislated reserves. People are asked to step off their blankets, symbolizing disease, war, and extinction. Blankets are removed or moved to other areas, showing the way land was taken and peoples relocated. The exercise concludes with participants discussing the experience in a healing circle.