Close X
Thursday, November 14, 2024
ADVT 
National

Gord Downie To Release Album And Graphic Novel Inspired By Residential Schools

The Canadian Press, 09 Sep, 2016 11:25 AM
    TORONTO — Just weeks after fans bid what they feared could be a final goodbye to beloved Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie, the terminally ill singer has revealed he will release a new solo album with an accompanying graphic novel and animated film inspired by the tragedy of Canada's residential school system.
     
    "Secret Path" tells the story of a 12-year-old First Nations boy in Ontario named Chanie Wenjack, who died in 1966 after running away from the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School near Kenora, Ont.
     
    The album and book will be released on Oct. 18 and the film will air on CBC on Oct. 23.
     
    "I never knew Chanie, but I will always love him," Downie said Friday in a statement. "Chanie haunts me. His story is Canada's story. This is about Canada. We are not the country we thought we were."
     
    In May, Downie made the shocking announcement that he has terminal brain cancer. Tickets for the band's "Man Machine Poem" summer tour, which many feared could be their last, sold out almost immediately, leading to CBC picking up a national broadcast of the final tour stop in Kingston last month. The concert quickly became a national event as millions tuned in across the country.
     
    During that final show, Downie called out to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who attended the concert, to help fix problems in northern Canada in his last scheduled live performance with his band.
     
     
    "It's maybe worse than it's ever been, so it's not on the improve. (But) we're going to get it fixed and we got the guy to do it, to start, to help," Downie said onstage.
     
    In Friday's statement, Downie said he learned the story of Chanie Wenjack, who was misnamed Charlie by his teachers, from a 1967 Maclean's magazine article.
     
    Downie recounted in Friday's release how the boy died beside railroad tracks after escaping the school and trying to walk to his home more than 600 kilometres away.
     
    "All of those governments, and all of those churches, for all of those years, misused themselves," Downie said. "They hurt many children. They broke up many families. They erased entire communities."
     
    For more than 100 years, the federal government funded church-run schools across the country to eliminate parental involvement in the intellectual, cultural, and spiritual development of Aboriginal children, according to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. The last school closed in 1996.
     
    More than 150,000 First Nations, Metis, and Inuit children were placed in these schools often against their parents' wishes, which led to an apology from then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2008.
     
     
    Downie began "Secret Path" as 10 poems that were turned into the 10 songs for the album, which was recorded over two sessions near Kingston in late 2013.
     
    Proceeds from the album and graphic novel will go to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba, which is dedicated to preserving the history of the residential school system.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Waiting For Guinness Confirmation: Edmonton Baseball Game Could Be Longest

    Waiting For Guinness Confirmation: Edmonton Baseball Game Could Be Longest
    EDMONTON — The longest baseball game ever may have been played in Edmonton on the long weekend.

    Waiting For Guinness Confirmation: Edmonton Baseball Game Could Be Longest

    Two Bodies Found From N.L. Fishing Boat: 'Your Heart Breaks For The Families'

    Two Bodies Found From N.L. Fishing Boat: 'Your Heart Breaks For The Families'
      Conditions were calm under blue skies as they went about their work in a zodiac and police boat as a coast guard ship could be seen farther offshore.

    Two Bodies Found From N.L. Fishing Boat: 'Your Heart Breaks For The Families'

    Spill Response Base Planned For Vancouver Harbour If Trans Mountain Proceeds

    The federal government is set to make a decision on the $6.8-billion Alberta-to-B.C. pipeline expansion in December, but Kinder Morgan Canada's proposal already faces several court challenges, including one filed by the City of Vancouver.-

    Spill Response Base Planned For Vancouver Harbour If Trans Mountain Proceeds

    Calgary Neighbourhood Tells Tree Planters To Make Like A Tree And Leaf

    Calgary Neighbourhood Tells Tree Planters To Make Like A Tree And Leaf
    CALGARY — Protests over trees usually happen when they're being cut down, but some Calgary residents are upset the city has planted saplings in a park across from their homes.

    Calgary Neighbourhood Tells Tree Planters To Make Like A Tree And Leaf

    Surrey Business Robbery Suspect Arrested And Charged Following Tips

    Surrey Business Robbery Suspect Arrested And Charged Following Tips
    Surrey RCMP advises that a female suspect has now been arrested and charged for robbery on May 28th thanks to help from the public and media.

    Surrey Business Robbery Suspect Arrested And Charged Following Tips

    Winnipeg Woman Accused Of Concealing Infant Remains Has Fraud Charge Dropped

    Winnipeg Woman Accused Of Concealing Infant Remains Has Fraud Charge Dropped
    WINNIPEG — A Winnipeg woman accused of hiding the remains of six infants in a storage locker has had an unrelated charge against her stayed.

    Winnipeg Woman Accused Of Concealing Infant Remains Has Fraud Charge Dropped