For the first time, Downie discusses his health and dedication to Indigenous issues in powerful and emotional interview airing Thurs. Oct. 13 on THE NATIONAL
Downie's THE SECRET PATH premieres Sun. Oct. 23 on CBC and will be streamed worldwide at cbc.ca/secretpath
SECRET PATH album and graphic novel launch Tues. Oct. 18
In an exclusive interview for CBC's THE NATIONAL, Gord Downie talks to CBC News Chief Correspondent Peter Mansbridge - who has known Downie for 25 years - about life, The Tragically Hip, music and his latest project, SECRET PATH. Downie also discusses his health for the first time, and how he has been inspired to start a dialogue in Canada around Indigenous issues and reconciliation. Downie's intimate and emotional conversation with Mansbridge will be broadcast on THE NATIONAL on Thursday, October 13 at 9 p.m. on CBC News Network and at 10 p.m. (10:30 NT) on CBC.
For a preview of the interview please click here.
Spanning an album, graphic novel and one-hour CBC television special, Downie's SECRET PATH project acknowledges a dark part of Canada's history - the long-suppressed mistreatment of Indigenous children and families by the residential school system - with the hope of starting Canada on a road to reconciliation. Downie began SECRET PATH as 10 poems inspired by the story of Chanie Wenjack, a 12-year-old boy who died 50 years ago on October 22, 1966 in flight from the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School near Kenora, Ontario, walking home to the family he was taken from over 400 miles away.
Downie's poems were fleshed into the 10 songs of the SECRET PATH album. The music was then brought to graphic novelist Jeff Lemire for his help illustrating Chanie Wenjack's story, bringing him and the many children like him to life. The 10-song album will be released by Arts & Crafts accompanied by Lemire's 88-page graphic novel published by Simon & Schuster Canada on Tues. Oct. 18, in a deluxe vinyl and book edition, and as a book with album download. Both can be pre-ordered at secretpath.ca.
Adapted from Downie's album and Lemire's graphic novel, THE SECRET PATH is an animated film to be broadcast by CBC in an hour-long, commercial-free television special on Sun. Oct. 23 at 9 p.m. (9:30 NT) and streamed worldwide at 9 p.m. ET at cbc.ca/secretpath. Divided into 10 chapters, the film chronicles the heartbreaking story of Chanie's residential school experience and his subsequent death from hunger and exposure as he attempted to return home. The television special will include documentary footage of Downie tracing Chanie's steps with the Wenjack family in Ogoki Post, Ontario.
Downie will play two special concerts in support of SECRET PATH at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on Tuesday, Oct. 18 and Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto on Friday, Oct. 21.
All proceeds from SECRET PATH will be donated to The Gord Downie Secret Path Fund for Truth and Reconciliation via The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) at The University of Manitoba.
Downie's interview with Peter Mansbridge will be broadcast on THE NATIONAL on Thursday, October 13 at 9 p.m. on CBC News Network and at 10 p.m. (10:30 NT) on CBC.
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