“It’s going to change this country,” he said. If you don’t, there’s literally no chance of making any kind of progress whatsoever.”ĭownie said students he has met through his school presentations have a greater awareness of what happened in the past, and says he is hopeful they will build on what they are learning. You’ve got to look at yourself in the mirror, you’ve got to look at your faults and you’ve got to come to grips with it. It’s the same thing for a nation as it is for an individual. “But that doesn’t mean we should turn away from it either. It doesn’t show us in a flattering light, clearly. My brother Gord was the kind of guy, he was never afraid of the tough conversations. “I’m excited these kids are learning about the real history of Canada. I believe it’s going to become a huge part of what Canadians think of who we are,” Downie said.
“When you start to think about it a little more you realize the resiliency of this culture. Making it real is exactly what Mike Downie hopes to achieve with his Secret Path tour and Legacy Schools program of educators committed to reconciliation. For me, what Secret Path was, was someone has an emotional connection with Gord and the Hip…it’s refocusing that dialogue in the mainstream. “It brings home something that maybe they didn’t understand that well. The reaction “is going to be different for every student,” he added. “It wasn’t one of those guilt and blame kind of shows. There’s clearly the Downie family trait here they (Mike and late brother Gord) can tell a mean story.”ĭownie helped the students focus on the intangible concept of reconciliation, giving them a way to understand it on their level. “He was wonderful with the kids, taking time talking to them after the show and taking photos,” ADSS principal Rob Souther said. In Port Alberni he did three Secret Path presentations in front of a combined 1,100 students from Alberni District Secondary School, and Grade 7 students from Neill, Alberni, Dunn, John Paul II and Haa-huu-payak elementary schools. Mike Downie toured Vancouver Island for a week last month, visiting schools in two different districts and making multiple presentations. The album was released just before Gord died of brain cancer on Oct. The Downies worked on The Secret Path, a multi-media presentation featuring a graphic novel, 10-song album and animated film that tells Chanie’s story through Gord Downie’s words. Mike Downie hopes the story of Chanie Wenjack, who died 50 years ago trying to return home from residential school in northern Ontario, will live on through the words of his late brother, Gord Downie, of The Tragically Hip.