A 12-year-old Ojibway boy who died from hunger and exposure after trying to find his way home from a residential school is the inspiration behind a new project from Gord Downie.

In 1966, Chanie (Charlie) Wenjack's body was found by the railway tracks near Kenora, Ont.

It's a story that so affected Tragically Hip lead singer Gord Downie, he created a solo album, a graphic novel and an animated film to honour Wenjack's memory and educate other Canadians about the tragedy.
...
Secret Path began as 10 poems written by Downie, recorded as songs in November and December 2013. When it's released on Oct. 18, it'll be accompanied by an 88-page graphic novel illustrated by award-winning author Jeff Lemire. An animated film inspired by Downie's music and Lemire's illustrations will be broadcast on CBC Television on Sunday, Oct. 23.

Proceeds from Secret Path will go to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba.

Click to expand...

Mike Downie introduced me to Chanie Wenjack; he gave me the story from Ian Adams' Maclean's magazine story dating back to February 6, 1967, “The Lonely Death of Charlie Wenjack.”

Chanie, misnamed Charlie by his teachers, was a young boy who died on October 22, 1966, walking the railroad tracks, trying to escape from the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School to walk home. Chanie's home was 400 miles away. He didn't know that. He didn't know where it was, nor how to find it, but, like so many kids - more than anyone will be able to imagine - he tried. I never knew Chanie, but I will always love him.

Chanie haunts me. His story is Canada's story. This is about Canada. We are not the country we thought we were. History will be re-written. We are all accountable, but this begins in the late 1800s and goes to 1996. “White” Canada knew – on somebody's purpose – nothing about this. We weren't taught it in school; it was hardly ever mentioned.

All of those Governments, and all of those Churches, for all of those years, misused themselves. They hurt many children. They broke up many families. They erased entire communities. It will take seven generations to fix this. Seven. Seven is not arbitrary. This is far from over. Things up north have never been harder. Canada is not Canada. We are not the country we think we are.

I am trying in this small way to help spread what Murray Sinclair said, “This is not an aboriginal problem. This is a Canadian problem. Because at the same time that aboriginal people were being demeaned in the schools and their culture and language were being taken away from them and they were being told that they were inferior, they were pagans, that they were heathens and savages and that they were unworthy of being respected – that very same message was being given to the non-aboriginal children in the public schools as well… They need to know that history includes them.” (Murray Sinclair, Ottawa Citizen, May 24, 2015)

I have always wondered why, even as a kid, I never thought of Canada as a country – It's not a popular thought; you keep it to yourself – I never wrote of it as so. The next hundred years are going to be painful as we come to know Chanie Wenjack and thousands like him – as we find out about ourselves, about all of us – but only when we do can we truly call ourselves, “Canada.”

Click to expand...

The name of an Indian residential school student who died 50 years ago was trending on Twitter Friday as news broke of Gord Downie's latest project devoted to the boy.

Chanie Wenjack was 12 years old when he died after running away from residential school in Kenora, Ont., in search of his family.

On Friday, the Tragically Hip lead singer announced his latest solo project, Secret Path — a multimedia package including an album, a graphic novel and an animated movie — all about Wenjack's tragic story.

First Nations leaders expressed gratitude to Downie for the recognition of the legacy of residential schools and his call for all Canadians to learn the stories of the thousands of children who died there.

Click to expand...

The first single from THE SECRET PATH, my collaboration with Gord Downie, was released today. The Secret Path Graphic Novel and Album will be available TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18.

Click to expand...

The Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie has been battling glioblastoma, an aggressive and terminal form of brain cancer, since December.

In an exclusive interview airing Thursday for The National, the first since Downie's cancer announcement, he sat down with the CBC's Peter Mansbridge at a friend's house in Toronto to talk about his illness, the Tragically Hip, and his latest project, Secret Path.

Downie's treatment has involved a couple of surgeries, radiation, chemotherapy and constant MRIs. He doesn't remember the whole list himself.

His memory often fails him, so he writes notes on his hands

Memory used to be his "forte."

"And now I can't remember hardly anything. I have, I have Peter written on my hand. I have things written, a few things written on my hands. And I say that, just to be up front. 'Cause I might call you Doug," he told Mansbridge.

Click to expand...

Gord Downie knows he's fighting for his life.

With a voice immediately recognizable to millions of Canadians, the Tragically Hip frontman has been battling an aggressive and terminal form of brain cancer since last December.

He's undergone two brain surgeries, rounds of radiation and chemotherapy, and numerous MRIs.

But that cancer — a glioblastoma — has also inspired Downie, 52, to fight to make his mark on Canada.

Though Downie admits his memory isn't what it once was — he's taken to writing names and other details down on his hand — he's embarked on a new challenge with Secret Path, a solo album, graphic novel and animated film inspired by a 12-year-old Ojibwa boy named Chanie (Charlie) Wenjack, who died from hunger and exposure after running away from a residential school.

The album and graphic novel will both be released next Tuesday, and the animated film will be broadcast on CBC on Oct. 23.

He's also founded the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund — a project that he hopes will raise $100 million to bridge the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians.

It's a legacy project of sorts — and something that Downie says likely wouldn't be possible without his diagnosis.

In his first interview since his diagnosis, Downie sat down with CBC's chief correspondent Peter Mansbridge to discuss his cancer, his recent cross-country tour and why he's focusing on Indigenous issues.

Click to expand...

A Grizzly Bear said:

Had no idea about this. Going to see if I can swing by a Chapters tomorrow and grab the Deluxe edition.

Click to expand...

capitalCORN said:

This is worth a new post. I just saw the whole thing. Oh my God... I am devastated. I urge everyone to witness this piece of excellent tragedy (I hope the link stays up):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGd764YU9yc

Click to expand...