I've been fixating on the work of Gord Downie for a month now, since his untimely passing in October. Yesterday I started watching the CBC broadcast of The Silent Path, the concert / album / film / graphic novel about a boy who ran away from a residential school in 1966 and died trying to walk the 600km home.
Well, I had to stop after two songs. I was crying too much. Listening to the songs performed live, with the film playing in the background was heartbreaking.
I'm going to watch the whole thing this weekend. It's important that we all do, to help us understand what went on and start to comprehend the magnitude of the reconciliation that's required. As Gord himself says in this moving speech, it took seven generations to get to this point and will take seven generations to fully heal. But it's time to start.
I can't recommend this concert enough.
PS. Some more links:
The Secret Path album on Spotify
Gord's last album, Introduce Yerself announced just weeks prior to his death, on Spotify
Photo via CBC Docs