The Wakamow Aboriginal Community Association (WACA) is ramping up their programming again this summer after a year-long hiatus.

On June 15 and 22, they're hosting a blanket exercise at 6:30 in Crescent Park and everyone is welcome to attend.

Chair of WACA, Lori Deets explains more about just what a blanket exercise is.

"The blanket exercise goes through over 500 years of the history of first nations people and the settlers. It gives people a really neat, interactive experience of what has taken place over the years and what it may have felt like. Doing the exercise in Crescent Park, on the earth, has always been an incredibly grounding and moving experience."

Deets says the exercise is geared towards both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and aims to facilitate empathy and healing. The hope is to keep the conversation going following the tragic news out of Kamloops of the discovery of 215 deceased Indigenous children.

"For myself and some of our board members, this is something we've done lots and is a conversation that we've been having long before the news from the Kamloops Residential School. When we heard reactions like, 'Oh my goodness, I had no idea that this was going on, " it was really hard for us to not say, 'How didn't you know that this was going on.' So we wanted to try to find a meaningful action to do and thought that this was the right time to bring back our blanket exercise."

WACA has had to put a pause on all of their programming throughout the pandemic because so much of their activities revolve around community. Deets says that with restrictions easing, they are looking forward to bringing back some of their old events along with several new ideas. She adds that getting involved in your local Indigenous communities is one of the biggest steps a person can take towards reconciliation.

"It's a start and I think, unfortunately, that we're going to be at the start for a while. We're still in the truth stage of reconciliation and we will never achieve reconciliation until there is no one left in Canada who can say, "I had no idea these atrocities were going on.'"

The event this evening is being hosted at the amphitheatre, is open to everyone, and appropriate for all ages.

Residents are also welcome to attend a summer solstice celebration hosted by WACA on Indigenous Peoples Day, June 21, at 6:00 pm in Connor Park.