Singer shone light on nation’s social issues

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This article was published 17/10/2017 (2375 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EXACTLY one year after the National Arts Centre (NAC) helped debut Gord Downie’s Secret Path album, book and film, Downie has died and an Ottawa orchestra is in Winnipeg to play a piece about another chapter in Canada’s residential school history.

The NAC orchestra will play I Lost My Talk on Thursday night at the Centennial Concert Hall. It’s a piece composed by Edmonton’s John Estacio, based on a poem by Rita Joe, a Canadian Indigenous author, about the residential school experience through the perspective of a student.

Rosemary Thompson of the NAC said she recalls when Downie’s brother, Mike, called to see if the centre was interested in hosting the launch of his brother’s live show for Secret Path.

“He said, ‘Can you help — we want this concert in six weeks,’” Thompson said Wednesday. “We said yes. We had to move concerts around — we had to ask to move the orchestra out of Southam Hall, but they agreed.”

Secret Path tells the story of 12-year-old Chanie Wenjack, who escaped a residential school near Kenora, Ont., in the 1960s, only to succumb to exposure and hunger a few days later along the side of the railway tracks he was following to get back to his home community.

Downie said at the time of the Oct. 18, 2016, show: “Chanie haunts me… This story is Canada’s story. This is about Canada… The next 100 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 try call ourselves, Canada.”

Downie, 53, the longtime frontman of Canadian music icons the Tragically Hip, died Tuesday night in Kingston, Ont., of brain cancer.

Peter Herrndorf, the NAC president and CEO, said Secret Path and I Lost My Talk are two Indigenous stories, and the centre is planning to do many more as it works towards holding the first season of its new Indigenous Theatre Department in 2019.

“What was so powerful of Gord Downie, he called to so many people across the country, ‘You’re already too late, get on with that,’” Herrndorf said. “His impact has been huge… there’s a real outpouring of emotions and tremendous sadness. He actually reached deeply into this country.”

Meanwhile, representatives of Manitoba’s Indigenous community, and the head of the country’s National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, in Winnipeg for hearings this week, paid tribute to Downie.

“I believe he has sacrificed on a personal level in his times of suffering when he could have just stayed home and be with his family,” Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Arlen Dumas said. “He chose to shine a light on residential schools. He chose to use some of his brightness to cast a light on a very dark chapter of Canadian history. I think his efforts are going to continue.

“We all need to be reminded of how we can continue his legacy and his work as we move forward.”

Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief Sheila North Wilson said she was honoured to represent former MKO Indian Residential School students and family members in support of the Secret Path project.

“We will be forever grateful to Gord for his efforts in using his voice, art and unbelievable talent to advocate for the rights of the citizens of our remote and isolated First Nations,” North Wilson said. “We will continue to remember Gord, build on his efforts through his foundation, and work to better the lives of our people as his lasting legacy to MKO.”

Marion Buller, head commissioner of National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, said she was “very sorry to hear about Mr. Downie’s passing. I want, on behalf of all the commissioners, staff and elders at the national inquiry, to pass on our sincere condolences and sympathies to his family and his friends. It’s a tremendous loss for Canada.”

Buller paid tribute to Downie’s work, in the final year of his life, to his project Secret Path.

“He’ll be remembered for awakening the Canadian consciousness to the violence and the lives that Indigenous people truly live across Canada.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca