Originally, the content of this meeting was supposed to be tackled in September, which would have made it ideally timed about a little more than a week before the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Slightly less well-timed, but no less important, council will finally get together to consider matters of Indigenous reconciliation and their place in it with a very insightful and informative exercise.
NOTE #1: There will not be any delegations or correspondences for this meeting.
NOTE #2: Since almost the entirety of this meeting takes placed in closed session, it will not be live-streamed on the City of Guelph’s website.
KAIROS Blanket Exercise – Last year, city council approved a new Territorial Acknowledgement, and as it was explained at the meeting that this was the first part of council’s renewed commitment to reconciliation with Indigenous people. This is the (delayed) next step, a KAIROS Blanket Exercise. Developed in 1996 with the Aboriginal Rights Coalition, who worked with Indigenous elders and teachers, the goal was to create an interactive way to learn Canadian history from an Indigenous perspective.
This is how KAIROS explains how it works:
The Blanket Exercise is based on using Indigenous methodologies and the goal is to build understanding about our shared history as Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada by walking through pre-contact, treaty-making, colonization and resistance. Everyone is actively involved as they step onto blankets that represent the land, and into the role of First Nations, Inuit and later Métis peoples. By engaging on an emotional and intellectual level, the Blanket Exercise effectively educates and increases empathy.
You can also check out these videos here:
As stated above, council will be doing this exercise in-camera under Section 239(3.1) (1) of the Municipal Act, “a meeting is held for the purpose of educating or training the members.” Council will meeting in Meeting Room C at City Hall.
Guelph Politico 