LASTING LEGACY
CBU first university in Canada to construct legacy room.
Cape Breton University is renovating its library to serve as the first Chanie Wenjack legacy room at a university in Canada.
The creation of a legacy room is part of the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund, which was created as an embodiment of The Tragically Hip frontman’s dedication to improving the lives of Canada’s First Peoples.
Campus library dean Shawn Bethke said the upcoming renovation is much more than a name change.
“We’re renovating on the first floor of the library — the most highly visual part — and probably the most heavily trafficked area in the university in terms of students and faculty,” he said.
“We’re knocking out an approximately 20-foot concrete wall and replacing that with a glass, floor to ceiling, entranceway so that everyone will be able to look inside and it will be top finishes.”
Downie died from terminal brain cancer last October at age 53. In his final days, the rock legend shifted the media glare from himself to the country’s need to move forward on Indigenous reconciliation.
Downie was largely inspired by the story of Chanie Wenjack, a 12-year-old boy who succumbed to starvation and
exposure in 1963, after running away from a residential school in Kenora, Ont.
At the time of his death, Wenjack was attempting to reunite with his family who were 600 kilometers away. His story is part of the country’s unfortunate and tragic legacy of colonization of Indigenous Peoples.
In collaboration with the
Wenjack family, the legacy fund is meant to continue this conversation that began with Wenjack’s story and to aid in collective reconciliation efforts.
CBU’s ongoing renovations will include the addition of seven leather chairs forming an Indigenous talking circle. There will also be bookshelves and display cases showcasing items donated by local residential school survivors.
An audiovisual component will include a DVD player and TV screen with viewings of Downie’s film ‘Secret Path,’ featuring music and animations based on Wenjack’s life.
Mi’kmaq artist Alan Syliboy has been commissioned on a painting and there will also be volumes available of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report.
As part of the construction project, CBU library will remain open each day.
“In a world where we’re taking about making up your own facts and false news — and all these other kinds of things — people are turning more and more to libraries to get their factual information,” said Bethke.
“We want to make sure that we’re representing truth and reconciliation in the truest form that we can possibly offer.”
A grand opening of the legacy room will take place in October, with invitations to be sent to members of the Wenjack family and other dignitaries.
Bethke said construction is expected to wrap in one to three weeks.