A truly Hip charity will be unmasked at tonight’s WHL game
Downie brother to help ‘start another fire’
When the Victoria Royals face off tonight against the Seattle Thunderbirds they are taking on more than a rival hockey team, they’re taking on a cause.
It’s the Victoria Royals’ Downie Wenjack Fund Night, a night the Royals etched on their calendar to bring awareness to the history of Indigenous people and to help create new relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians — a cause close to the heart of the late Gord Downie, the front man of the Tragically Hip.
“I think [this cause] actually just spoke to us,” said Royals president and general manager Cam Hope.
“We’re tied in closely with the Indigenous communities on Vancouver Island and decided if there was something we could get involved in where we thought we could help, we would.
“And we loved [Downie’s] simple message: ‘Just do something.’ ”
The Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund, which has partnered with the Royals for the 2017-18 season, was established this year as part of Downie’s legacy.
Chanie Wenjack was born on the Martin Falls Reserve in northern Ontario in 1954 and went to residential school in 1963 in Kenora, Ont. In 1966, at 12 years old, he ran away. His body was found beside railway tracks a week later.
Downie wrote an album based on Wenjack’s escape, Secret Path. It was released last year along with a graphic novel by Jeff Lemire.
So far the Royals have raised in excess of $7,000 for the fund through game-worn jersey sales and auctions — and tonight they will unveil a goalie mask painted by local artist Travis Michael that will be auctioned off for the cause.
The mask, with an iridescent blue-purple base, features art from Lemire’s graphic novel, an image of a white hat and feather symbolizing Downie, and a Royals logo. It will be listed for auction at CHL.ca.
Hope said raising awareness is more important than the money at this point.
“It’s about doing something simple. [Downie’s] idea was to light a spark — take a log from a fire and start another fire,” he said.
In addition to the kickoff of the mask auction, the Royals’ Downie Wenjack Fund Night will include an appearance by Gord Downie’s brother Mike, co-founder of the fund and co-creator of the graphic novel and film The Secret Path.
“I think we all have a personal connection with [Downie and the Tragically Hip] and we are fans of what he was trying to do with the last couple of years of his life,” said Hope.
“This [game] is an opportunity to get that message out in front of thousands of hockey fans.”