Honouring Chanie Wenjack
Legacy Rooms recount boy’s desperate journey, write Craig and Marc Kielburger.
If there’s one thing you don’t expect to find in the middle of a garden show, it’s a railroad track.
Amid the shrubbery and tool displays at this year’s Canada Blooms’ display in Toronto at the Enercare Centre, a landscaped pathway will tell the story of Chanie Wenjack, the 12-year-old Anishinaabe boy who died fleeing his residential school in 1966. Chanie walked for days in bitter fall weather, following railway tracks he thought would lead him home. Visitors will follow a path that evokes Chanie’s desperate journey through elements drawn from the story.
“I wanted to create something that was representative of Canada, but more meaningful than the stereotypical beavers and hockey,” says Joe Genovese, whose company, Genoscape, created the display.
Genovese was inspired by Secret Path, an animated musical short film about Chanie, created by Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie. “I see a new path opening up. A path to reconciliation,” says Downie in a video interview.
Part of that new path will lead through Legacy Rooms such as the Canada Blooms’ display. It’s a new initiative by the Gord Downie & the Chanie Wenjack Fund.
Mike Downie, Gord’s brother and Downie-Wenjack Fund cofounder, says Legacy Rooms will “create a physical space where Canadians are not only reminded of the story of Chanie, but start thinking of how we can move the ball forward on reconciliation.”
“Reconciliation is about creating a continuing conversation,” adds regional chief Morley Googoo, who represents the First Nations of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador.
It was Googoo who conceived the idea for Legacy Rooms while attending a business dinner.
Noticing the restaurant had private rooms for special functions, Googoo proposed the owner dedicate one to Chanie and Gord Downie, decorating it with photos and information plaques. The owner agreed, and the first Legacy Room was born.
Googoo took his idea to Gord and Mike Downie.
Why stop at a restaurant? Putting Legacy Rooms in unexpected places encourages Canadians to talk about reconciliation in the course of their daily activities.
According to Downie and Googoo, there is already considerable interest from diverse organizations. For a $5,000 donation, the Downie-Wenjack Fund will provide an official plaque and signage explaining Chanie’s story, to set the tone for the Legacy Room. The money raised supports initiatives to teach about residential schools in Canadian classrooms.