Editor:
A while ago my stepdaughter sent her mother and me a very emotional email. She has followed the career of the Tragically Hip since the beginning.
Gord Downie has a project to raise funds for Truth and Reconciliation called Secret Path. The story of Chanie Wenjack hit our daughter very hard.
In his statement on the website secretpath.ca, Downie wrote: “Chanie was a young boy who died on Oct. 22, 1966, walking the railroad tracks trying to escape from Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School to walk home. Chanie’s home was 400 miles away. He didn’t know that. He didn’t know where it was, nor where to find it, but, like so many kids – more than anyone will be able to imagine – he tried. I never knew Chanie, the child his teachers misnamed Charlie, but I will always love him.
“Chanie haunts me. His story is Canada’s story. This is about Canada. We are not the country we thought we were. History will be re-written …”
This was one story; but there were thousands of Chanies in our shameful history with the First Nations of our country. I ask myself how I would feel if someone came and took my grandchildren away. It doesn’t bear thinking about. Generations of people have suffered the consequences of this cruel practice.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has made many recommendations. Maybe we could write to Prime Minister Trudeau or our MP to make sure this is still on the front burner politically.
Llewelyn Keates, Davis Bay, on behalf of the Keates/Emche family