Being a student who graduated Highschool in 2016 and proceeding to be in university for the past 6 years, this blanket exercise helped me retain more information in 1 hour then I did in my entire time in the education system. I always knew I was a visual learner; however, this exercise went past just the visual experience and addressed the emotional awareness that is created from such traumatic histories. Watching people physically get land picked away from them in such unfair fashion was incredibly impactful. Adding in the narration from Dr. Sims, and Professor Younghusband amplified the reality of the facts that took place. It gave meaning and impact almost to the information I already knew about Canadas history and treatment of indigenous peoples and simply made it hit differently. I think this blanket exercise makes it evident how important it is to surpass simply teaching or educating students about the treatment of Indigenous peoples in Canada. We need to put more experience behind the facts to have it really resonated with students. It goes back to the fact that we don’t know what it is like to be in other people’s shoes and to experience what they have and that is true in this case. I, as a white privileged female growing up in Canada will never know what it was like to be stripped from my family, have my culture taken from me, have essentially all my human rights taken from me. I will never understand Indigenous experiences to that magnitude but in exercises like these and with giving voices to Elders and Indigenous peoples who have stories and histories to share and tell, I believe students can better understand why this is such an important topic. Students can for a moment see the pains and traumas Indigenous peoples have been subject to and through that grow empathy, compassion, and somewhat of an understanding and respect for the steps being taken to right so many wrongs.
