In August, the Tragically Hip played its last concert in Kingston, Ontario. It was a bittersweet event for fans.

The concert was also a farewell to front man Gord Downie. In May, he was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive and incurable form of brain cancer.

Gord Downie

Between songs at the Kingston concert, Downie gave a shout-out to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and called on him to act on behalf of Indigenous people in the country, particularly in Canada’s North.

“He cares about the people… we were trained our entire lives to ignore, trained our entire lives to hear not a word of what’s going on up there,” Downie told the audience. “What’s going on up there ain’t good. It’s maybe worse than it’s ever been… we’re going to get it fixed and we got the guy to do it, to start, to help.”

Two months later, Downie gave another more intimate concert as he launched the Secret Path. The multimedia project tells the story of 12-year-old Chanie Wenjack, who died in 1966 as a runaway from the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School in Kenora, Ontario.

The project includes a 10-song album by Downie and others as well as a graphic novel by Jeff Lemire that has already become a best seller. The project received national attention in October when an hour-long animation was aired on CBC television.

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

Scroll down to see how you can win a copy of the Secret Path!

WIN

Win one of 11 copies of the Secret Path book & album download.

As part of its ongoing efforts to bring reconciliation, the Salish Sea Sentinel is offering our readers a chance to win one of eleven copies of the Secret Path book with a free download of the album. Those copies represent the eleven member nations of Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council, the publisher of this magazine. This competition is open to all readers of the Sentinel.

All entries must answer the question: What does reconciliation mean to me?
Send entries to editor@salishseasentinel.ca