This was my first time doing the blanket exercise and I came into it with very little understanding or prior knowledge. I appreciate the way I experienced it because it enabled me to fully experience the surprise, shock, and sadness. We started off all cozied up on the island of blankets but that did not last nearly as long as I expected. The first big shock was seeing the significant loss of people to disease. Having such a large portion from all throughout leave at once was very powerful. It truly made the stats and numbers real being able to see and feel it in that way. After that Christine began to pick people off, playing the role of the European. It was at this point that I found myself hoping that I wouldn’t get picked, I wanted her to just stay away and leave me alone.
The next really powerful moment to me was when we folded down the blankets to represent the land loss and formation of reserves. All of a sudden our space was gone and we as people were fragmented. It was such a simple way to represent what happened, but it hit me differently than any retelling could have. It is truly different to know from hearing and know from experiencing.
Having the “children” taken away to the residential schools was also very tough thing to see, even in the format of an exercise. Seeing them stolen away, isolated, and then to immediately loose one, soon followed by the other two. It was a sorrowful thing to see.
By the end I was feeling drained by the constant blows. Loss of people, land, and relationships continued to plague the people still standing on their small patches of blanket. I was one of the few remaining on the blanket at the end but I was not unaffected. I survived the direct hits, but was left with the loss of people and space around me.
Throughout the exercise there were two positive things that we acknowledged. In these cases we unfolded a tiny corner of the blanket and applauded. The applause was important, to recognize the hard-fought and won battles, but it also felt a bit defeating to cheer on a tiny increase in land when I remembered what was there to start with.
Overall I am grateful for this experience. It was not fun. It was heavy and sobering and solemn, but it was important for me to go through.