![]() Downie wrote them in the imagined voice of Chanie. A small child, overcome with loneliness and despair, had died of starvation and exposure in Ontario.Ĭhanie’s story tormented Gord. He set off on a doomed journey along the railway tracks, attempting to walk 600 kilometres back to his family in Ogoki Post. It was Mike who first told him the tragic story:Ĭhanie, a 12-year-old Anishinaabe boy, tried to escape from the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential school in Kenora, Ontario, in 1966. Gord spent more time thinking about Canada than most prime ministers.Īnd what he thought about in his final years was Chanie Wenjack. He was also our poet laureate, a weaver of lore, a raconteur, a drawbridge linking small towns to big cities, a showman, a sage and a rascal, a cultural ambassador, a buzzsaw of creativity and, near the end, a check on our conscience. He was an anchor in our psyche.įor more than three decades as the frontman for The Tragically Hip and a solo artist, Gord was not just a rock god for the ages. Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie dead at 53įor millions, a Canada without a beloved Gord Downie was as unthinkable as Niagara Falls without the water or the Rockies without the mountains. Opinion | Ben Rayner: In losing the Gord Downie, we lose the Tragically Hip Opinion | Vinay Menon: Gord Downie made us want to fix Canada Justin Trudeau went before the cameras and fell to pieces. Though the shocking diagnosis of incurable brain cancer had sparked national mourning months before, the grim bulletin landed like a thunderbolt on an otherwise quiet Tuesday. Nearly a year ago, on October 17, they lost their brother. “Keep it going,” Gord often told them, in his final months. Patrick and Mike have arrived at Christina’s on the Danforth, looking a little bruised by the past, but also ready to peer into the future. Mike glances at his younger brother and nods: “It’s not a straight line.” “Many days, it’s tough getting your head off the pillow,” says Patrick. I can hear his voice, his dream of reconciliation, when they explain the work on Indigenous issues that consumed his final months, work they’ve vowed to continue.īut most of all, I can feel Gord in their love and their sorrow. I can see him in the eyes of his brothers, Patrick and Mike. ![]() Gord Downie seems to be at the table with us. ![]()
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