National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is on Wednesday (September 30), and the Municipality of Port Hope and Northumberland County are marking the day with a free screening of Gord Downie’s film The Secret Path.
The screening begins at 7 p.m. at the Capitol Theatre in downtown Port Hope and will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Indigenous leaders and advocates.
The one-hour animated film tells the story of Chanie Wenjack, a 12-year-old Anishinaabe boy who died from exposure in October 1966 while trying to make his way home after escaping from the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School near Kenora.
Following the screening, Port Hope mayor Olena Hankivsky will moderate a panel discussion with Marsha Smoke, Southeast Regional Chief of the Anishinabek Nation, Dr. Hayden King, executive director of the Yellowhead Institute, and Chief Taynar Simpson of Alderville First Nation.
“The story of Chanie Wenjack continues to resonate deeply with Canadians and reminds us of the importance of learning from our shared history,” Hankivsky said in a media release.
“We invite residents to join us for this important community event as we reflect on the truths presented in The Secret Path and listen to the perspectives of Indigenous leaders.”
VIDEO: “The Stranger,” the first full chapter and song from The Secret Path
Chanie was nine years old when, in 1963, he was taken from his family at Ogoki Post on the Marten Falls First Nation in northern Ontario and sent around 600 kilometres away to the residential school.
In October 1966, after three years at the school, Chanie fled with two other boys. He eventually set out alone along railway tracks in an attempt to reach his home. Wearing inadequate clothing as temperatures fell below freezing, he died from exposure on October 22, 1966, after travelling only a small portion of the hundreds of kilometres separating him from his family.
The story would become the inspiration for The Secret Path decades later after Downie, the late frontman of The Tragically Hip, learned the story from his older brother Mike, a documentary filmmaker.
Downie began by writing 10 poems about Chanie’s story, which became 10 songs recorded for Downie’s 2016 album Secret Path. Comic artist Jeff Lemire illustrated the story for an accompanying graphic novel, with the music and illustrations forming the basis of the animated film that was first broadcast by CBC in October 2016.
“Chanie haunts me,” Downie said at the time. “His story is Canada’s story. This is about Canada. We are not the country we thought we were. History will be re-written.”
The Port Hope screening takes place during the year marking the 60th anniversary of Chanie’s death and the 10th anniversary of The Secret Path. The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund says the project has spent the past decade encouraging people to learn about the history and ongoing impacts of residential schools and to take meaningful action toward reconciliation.
In 2016, Trent University in Peterborough held a community screening of The Secret Path at Wenjack Theatre, which was named in Chanie’s honour in the 1970s following a campaign by students in the university’s Indigenous Studies department. The Peterborough screening was accompanied by a panel discussion about residential schools, their lasting impacts, and reconciliation.
Admission to the September 30 event in Port Hope is free, although advance reservations are encouraged through the Capitol Theatre website.
While the event is free, donations are welcomed and will be shared between Past Time, a legacy project honouring the late residential school survivor Stephen Pashagumskum, and the Aron Indigenous Circle in Campbellford, established by the Aron Theatre Co-op to help shape Indigenous and reconciliation-focused programming and support the Indigenous arts and culture community in Williams Treaty territory.
To reserve a seat for the September 30 screening and make an optional donation, visit capitoltheatre.com.
