Reflection on Kairos Blanket Exercise

Kairos is a movement of indigenous, settler and newcomer peoples committed to

ecological justice and human rights. Through KAIROS, people of faith and conscience work
together for change in Canada. This was created in 1977 by the Aboriginal Rights Coalition,
Kairos Blanket Exercise was intended to introduce Canadians to the major themes and findings
of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. This is built on the foundation of these long
standing, collaborative initiatives, and relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous
peoples to raise awareness of continuing injustices and impacts of colonization, and to promote
further learning.

While performing the exercise I feel very emotional, sad, and guilt as I can imagine how
their struggles especially to those babies and families that were killed and so many sufferings
going on. Their big lands were being bought, some were traded and what is left to them was a
small part of the whole. Apart from that, they used to enjoy living their lives without any
sickness and free from any violence and wars. So many frustrations go on and on and it hurts me
a lot listening to the story. Things worked out well before the Europeans came, and suddenly all
their good lives turned into despair. Their rights were abused, and they had to fight for it. Things
did not work well is that they had to seek out for justice, and they needed to have a leader,
someone who will stand and fight for them and unfortunately, she died but at least she started the
movement already and made a step in claiming for their rights.

My own analysis of this exercise is that I was able to develop personal connections to the
lived experiences of the Indigenous peoples. This also allowed me to gain more understanding of
what happened during Canadian colonialism. Through this reflection I realized that I cannot hold
myself accountable for the actions of other people. I will do my best to become more responsible
and to learn more about Indigenous culture and history. As a conclusion, I will make sure that I
will honor and acknowledge their experiences and pay high respect to Indigenous communities.