Mourning a matriarch of Marten Falls First Nations
Mother of Chanie Wenjack, tragic symbol of residential school system, dead at 89
The mother of Chanie Wenjack, the 12-year-old boy who froze to death while on the run from a residential school and later inspired a generation of Canadians to learn about this devastating chapter in Canada’s history, has died.
Agnes Wenjack passed away in a Geraldton, Ont., hospital Friday.
A mother, a grandmother, a greatgrandmother and great-greatgrandmother, the matriarch of the Ogoki Post, Marten Falls First Nations family was 89.
Her son, Chanie, was found dead by Canadian National Railway workers Oct. 23, 1966, after he ran away from Cecilia Jeffrey Residential School. He was trying to walk home — a nearly 1,000-kilometre journey.
His death might have gone unnoticed if it weren’t for a1967 Maclean’s magazine article, “The Lonely Death of Charlie Wenjack,” that movingly catalogued the tragic last movements of the boy’s life.
An inquest was held into Chanie’s death, but the family was not told about it. They didn’t have a chance to participate and they did not learn any details about how he died until they read it in the Maclean’s article.
Fifty years after Chanie’s death, his life has become a symbol of the residential school era in Canada and the inspiration behind the Secret Path initiative created by Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie and his brother, documentary filmmaker Mike Downie.
There were 139 church-run, federally funded residential schools operating across Canada from the mid-19th century until the 1990s. In Ontario, there were 17, of which 15 were in northern Ontario. The schools were intended to assimilate Indigenous children into Canadian society by taking them away from their families, their language and culture. About 150,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit children attended residential school and it is estimated 6,000 died while there.
Cecilia Jeffrey, which changed Chanie’s first name to Charlie, was operational until 1974.
Marten Falls is a community within Nishnawabe Aski Nation (NAN), a political organization of 49 northern Ontario First Nations. Agnes Wenjack was the matriarch of the Wenjack family and loved to hunt, camp and fish. She was also a survivor of the residential school system, noted NAN Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler.
“Like many families whose children were lost to the Indian residential school system, Agnes waited a lifetime for an explanation of why her son’s brief life had to end the way it did,” Fiddler said in a statement.
“She never received an answer, but we pray that she found some comfort having lived to see Chanie’s story immortalized as a catalyst for reconciliation and a lasting tribute to all residential school students who never made it home.”
Mike Downie expressed his condolences at Wenjack’s death. The Downie family has worked with the Wenjacks to create the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund to teach Canadians about residential schools.
“May her strength, love and devotion help guide and comfort you on your life’s long journey,” he said.
Wenjack is survived by daughters Pearl Achneepineskum, Daisy Munroe, Evelyn Baxter and Annie Wenjack, and grandchildren, greatgrandchildren and great-greatgrandchildren. She was predeceased by husband Jim Wenjack.
A funeral will be held in Geraldton Wednesday.