Reconciliation and the royals: William and Kate to view Witness Blanket

The royal visit to British Columbia and Yukon will include lessons on reconciliation, a Victoria artist hopes.

Kwagiulth artist Carey Newman will show the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge the Witness Blanket he made to tell of the trauma experienced by residential school survivors.

The Witness Blanket has been touring the country since January but will be on display at Government House in Victoria for the visit.

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"It's about honouring residential school survivors and it's also about driving the conversation about reconciliation and using any chance that I get to help people understand what happened at residential schools," Newman told All Points West host Robyn Burns.

"So this is another one of those opportunities and it happens to be an opportunity that puts me with people who are direct descendants of the original colonizers of this country."

The blanket consists of 887 objects broken brick, shattered tiles, pieces of wood, and lost shoes each connected in some way to a residential school.

Newman isn't sure if he will get a chance to introduce the work to them, but would like to.

"I hope that I will have a chance to talk a little bit about the blanket, what it's made from, about reconciliation in Canada and the history and legacy of residential school," he said.

With files form CBC Radio One's All Points West

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