Witness Blanket

A piece of artwork on display at the Canadian Museum of Human Rights in Winnipeg, The Witness Blanket is a collection of hundreds of items reclaimed from residential schools, churches, government buildings, and traditional and cultural structures across Canada. This resource is a website that allows users to explore the items found on the blanket as well as the stories of those who experienced the reality of racism, colonialism, and genocide at Canada’s residential schools. With curricular connections to Big Ideas across various subjects and levels in middle and high school, this resource may be suitable for introducing lessons about residential schools. The videos and stories may also serve as a springboard to explorations of students’ own family histories.