Learning about the past part of reconciliation work

Edmonton Resilience Festival takes place on April 22, Earth Day.

As part of the event, RISE (Reconciliation in Solidarity Edmonton) will be presenting the Blanket Exercise.

It is an interactive learning experience that teaches the Indigenous rights history, developed in response to the 1996 Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples—which recommended education on Canadian-Indigenous history as one of the key steps to reconciliation.

The Blanket Exercise covers more than 500 years of history in a one-and-a-half-hour participatory workshop.

The Blanket Exercise allows participants to take on the roles of Indigenous peoples in Canada, walking through pre-contact, treaty-making, colonization and resistance.

Other workshops include Protecting Edmonton’s Water, Resiliency through Local Food, Passive Solar Designs, and Poverty in Edmonton.

A local market with community organizers, artists, food producers, and “resilience enthusiasts” will also be on site.

For a full schedule of the day’s events, check out www.edmontonresiliencefestival.com/

All events occur at the Waldorf Independent School of Edmonton.