From 1967: Tragic tale of Indigenous boy that inspired Gord Downie

Lead singer Gord Downie is seen performing on a screen as a man watches during a viewing party for the final stop in Kingston, Ontario, from Vancouver, British Columbia, Saturday Aug. 20, 2016.

The Canadian rock band’s front man is releasing his fourth solo album, Secret Path (For Chanie Wenjack), on October 18 via Arts & Crafts. Proceeds will go to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, which is dedicated to educating Canadians about the history of residential schools and moving towards a future of reconciliation.

His tragic story received national attention with the publication of the article “The Lonely Death of Charlie Wenjack” in Maclean’s magazine in February 1967.

“On behalf of the MKO Chiefs and community members, I would like to offer honest and heartfelt appreciation to Gord for his tremendous efforts, and recognize him for his vision of reconciliation and for his commitment to helping the IRS survivors and their family members across Canada achieve a lasting justice through the Secret Path project”.

“With Gord shining his light on Charlie’s story, I hope Canadians will take another step along the path to realize just how harmful and devastating those schools were for the over 150,000 children that attended them”, Moran said. This is about Canada. We are not the country we thought we were.

Wenjack died in 1966 while trying to walk the 600 kilometres from the residential school back to his home on the Marten Falls First Nation, northeast of Thunder Bay, Ont.

Murray Sinclair, now a senator, led a commission that spent several years recording the experience of survivors of the residential schools, which operated for more than a century before the last one closed in 1996.

“All of those governments, and all of those churches, for all of those years, misused themselves”, Downie said. But many other children simply never came home. They met with the family of Charlie Wenjack, 12, who died in 1966 after running away from residential school. It will also be used to commemorate their lives and, in some cases, return them to their home communities.

During the show, Downie launched into one of his trademark onstage rants, calling out to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was in the crowd for the show. “It may be worse than it’s ever been”, he said. “(But) we’re going to get it fixed and we got the guy to do it, to start, to help”, Downie said from the stage.

A press release about the project said Downie and NCTR director Ry Moran recently visited the Ogoki Post in northwestern Ontario, Chanie’s (Charlie’s) home community and final resting place.

“I think there was a lot of mixed emotions”, says North Wilson.

She says she gave Downie an eagle’s feather and a beaded vest because she “really wanted to impress upon him that we appreciate him”.

Another First Nations leader on the trip also praised the singer for his project.

Secret Path began as 10 poems written by Downie, recorded as songs in November and December 2013.

Proceeds from sales will be donated to the Gord Downie Secret Path Fund for Truth and Reconciliation via The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at The University of Manitoba.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story.