McGill Indigenous Awareness Week: Kairos Blanket Exercise

The Macdonald Community is invited to participate in a workshop, given by Allan Vicaire, Indigenous Education Advisor. The workshop is an interactive exercise on the relationships between the Crown and Indigenous peoples in Canada, from the settlers’ arrival to modern times. Participants are guided through centuries of denial of Indigenous nationhood and the gradual appropriation, relocation, and removal of Indigenous peoples and territories.

The exercise begins with blankets spread across the floor, which represent land occupied by Indigenous populations. As participants are guided through centuries of negotiations, treaties, decrees, and other interactions with European settlers, the blankets on which they stand are slowly removed, until only a few participants remain on a small area representing what little remains of Indigenous territory today. The exercise will then be followed by a talking circle.

This event on the Mac Campus is part of the McGill’s 7th Annual Indigenous Awareness Week (Sept 18 – 23, 2017).

Spaces are limited. Please register by e-mailing asp.sede [at] mcgill.ca