Image retrieved from: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/gord-downie-tragically-hip-afn-honoured-1.3883618
Tansi Nîtôtemtik,
Cramped into a small airplane seat, I read my texts before taking off for this year’s Indigenous Bar Association (IBA) Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia. This year’s topic being, “Ankukamkewey: Joining Together in Peace and Friendship.” A text from my husband read, “Gord Downie passed away.”
Losing an Indigenous ally is hard in a society that is largely unaware, or indifferent to the movement of reconciliation. However, we look to the legacy Gord Downie has left behind, and we recognize his tireless efforts in fighting for reconciliation when I’m sure all his body felt like doing was resting.
A year ago, Downie released his fifth and final solo album, Secret Path. Secret Path was part of a larger project involving an animated film, graphic novel, and concept album based on the story of Chanie Wenjack. Wenjak was Ojibway, who at twelve years old ran away from a Residential School in northern Ontario. The distance to his home community was roughly 600 km. He didn’t make it home (like many other children who attempted to run away from Residential Schools), eventually dying from hunger and cold exposure.1
The release of Secret Path was later accompanied by the “Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund”, created to “jumpstart reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.”2 The idea to create the fund followed a life changing trip by the Downie brothers to Ogoki Post, Ontario, to visit Chanie’s mother, Pearl Wenjack.3 “There are three components to the initiative: Support of the Winnipeg-based National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation; education (involving the incorporation of Secret Path into school curriculums); and something Mr. Downie calls reconcili-actions.” 4 These reconcili-actions being grants of up to $10,000 to fund grassroots projects working to further Indigenous rights.5
Downie was honoured in December of last year by the Assembly of First Nations for his work on reconciliation. He was given the Lakota spirit name, “Wicapi Omani,” meaning “man who walks among the stars.”6
Travelling to the IBA Conference, I realized that Downie truly embodied the title, “Joining Together in Peace and Friendship.” He joined Indigenous people as an ally, a peace-maker, and a friend. As a nehiyaw (Cree), I thank Gord Downie for being a voice of advocacy for Indigenous issues, and for helping to bridge the path in reconciliation between Canada’s Indigenous and non-Indigenous.
Ay ay Wicapi Omani.
Until next time,
Team ReconciliAction YEG
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[1] Brad Wheeler, “Gord Downie’s dedication to Indigenous issues lives on”, The Globe and Mail (19 October 2017), online:<https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/gord-downies-dedication-to-indigenous-issues-lives-on/article36673092/?ref=http://www.theglobeandmail.com&>.
[2] Rahul Kalvapalle, “Gord Downie remembered for contributions to Indigenous reconciliation,” Global News (18 October 2017), online:<https://globalnews.ca/news/3810533/gord-downie-indigenous-reconciliation/>.
[3] Wheeler, supra note 1.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Kalvapalle, supra note 2.
[6] Michael Barclay, “Remembering the life and legacy of The Tragically Hip frontman”, Macleans (18 October 2017), online:<http://www.macleans.ca/gord-downie-obituary/>.
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