Secret Path turns 10 with Indigenous covers, Oct. 23 concert

The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund is marking 10 years of Gord Downie’s Secret Path with a playlist of covers by artists including Tanya Tagaq and Aysanabee, and a tribute concert at The Concert Hall in Toronto on Oct. 23.

Secret Path Week runs Oct. 17 to 22, and the Fund said it will post Downie’s original songs on its YouTube channel on Oct. 18, paired with illustrations from the animated film. The 2016 album tells the story of Chanie Wenjack, a 12-year-old Anishinaabe boy who died in 1966 trying to walk home, about 600 kilometres, after running away from the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School.

The Fund said in its anniversary release that Secret Path was released as a 10-song album alongside a graphic novel by Jeff Lemire and was later adapted into an animated film. Harriet Visitor, a Fund founding board member and Wenjack’s niece, said his story reflects the experience of more than 150,000 Indigenous children taken to residential schools. Mike Downie, a founding board member and Gord Downie’s brother, said the story has helped inspire more than three million meaningful actions.

Billboard Canada reported on Oct. 14 that the Fund released a YouTube playlist of covers from 12 artists, with every one of the album’s 10 tracks covered. Tagaq and the band July Talk cover Haunt Them, Haunt Them, Haunt Them, and Tom Wilson covers Here, Here and Here. Nimkii and the Niniis also translated Son into Anishinaabemowin, and the Fund’s playlist lists Amanda Rheaume, Julian Taylor, Natasha Fisher, Thea May, Wolf Saga, Drives the Common Man and Mimi O’Bonsawin among the contributors.

The Tagaq, July Talk and Wilson performances include previously unreleased footage from 2019 Secret Path Live fundraiser shows at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, Billboard Canada said. Downie performed the album there in full in 2016, with more than 30 members of Wenjack’s family attending. He died of brain cancer in 2017.

The anniversary concert is on Friday, Oct. 23, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at The Concert Hall, 888 Yonge St., Toronto. Performers named by the Fund include Rheaume, Aysanabee, Drives the Common Man, Taylor, Fisher, Nimkii and the Niniis, May, Tom Wilson and Thompson Wilson, William Prince and Wolf Saga. Indigenous artists will play Secret Path songs, their own music and covers of The Tragically Hip, according to the Fund. Now Toronto’s listing says the Fund will announce more performers. Tickets are sold through Eventbrite; the pages we read did not list prices.

Billboard Canada described the evening as “a special evening of music, reflection, connection, and celebration.” Ticket proceeds support the Fund’s projects. The event also includes an Indigenous vendor marketplace.

The anniversary also has an education side. The Fund said more than 250,000 students will have access to its reconciliation resources this school year, and more than 10,000 educators from over 7,000 schools will receive free materials on Indigenous histories, perspectives and rights, including a new 10th Anniversary Educator Guide. Ways to take part, from hosting a screening to organizing a Walk for Wenjack, are listed at downiewenjack.ca/sp10.

The anniversary lands weeks after Canada marked the sixth National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, and as a Canadian Press analysis we carried found only 14 of the 94 Truth and Reconciliation calls to action completed after 10 years. Downie’s band was also honoured this spring, when The Tragically Hip were named Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees.

The Fund’s page says further anniversary programming will be announced in the coming weeks. Via Billboard Canada and the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund.

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