Today I participated in the blanket exercise for the first time. For me, this was a new and unique way for me to learn about European colonization in modern day Canada. This exercise was designed by KAIROS Canada, and is an interactive experience in which all of the participants’ get involved. I did not fully know what this exercise was, but once we began, I quickly saw the message that it was trying to get across. It started as a narrative in which all of my classmates stood on several laid-out blankets (which represented the land that belongs to the Indigenous People), and this narrative began at the beginning of colonialism. My classmates and I all represented different Indigenous Peoples of Canada, and as the narrative went on, more and more of us had to sit down, were separated, or were forced to fold our blankets inwards. This represented Indigenous People being killed and displaced by a variety of factors tied into colonialism. I studied History in my Undergrad, so I have a good knowledge about the history of colonialism in Canada, but this exercise put it into a different perspective for me. Seeing the visual of half of my classmates having to leave the blankets because they were “killed off” by European diseases, for example, really put into perspective the proportions of Indigenous People being killed or displaced by colonialism. This exercise is a very good way of showcasing Canada’s dark past.