{"id":454,"date":"2021-06-07T20:34:25","date_gmt":"2021-06-07T20:34:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mixto.ca\/blog\/?p=454"},"modified":"2021-06-07T20:34:25","modified_gmt":"2021-06-07T20:34:25","slug":"as-we-commemorate-national-indigenous-history-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixto.ca\/blog\/as-we-commemorate-national-indigenous-history-month\/","title":{"rendered":"As we commemorate National Indigenous History Month"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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As we commemorate National Indigenous History Month, Mixto.ca <\/strong>is very excited to work with the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund (DWF).\u00a0\u00a0Inspired by Chanie\u2019s story and Gord\u2019s call to build a better Canada, the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund aims to build cultural understanding and create a path toward reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. DWF’s goal is to improve the lives of Indigenous people by building awareness, education, and connections between all people in Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund\u00a0(DWF) was created out of two families coming\u00a0together to make a change, uphold Chanie\u00a0and Gord\u2019s legacies, and create a pathway on\u00a0the journey toward reconciliation. \u00a0DWF is part of musician Gord Downie\u2019s legacy and embodies\u00a0his commitment, and that of both the Downie and Wenjack\u00a0families, to call Canadians to action in solidarity with\u00a0Indigenous Peoples of this land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gord Downie was a Canadian rock\u00a0musician, storyteller, and poet. He was\u00a0the frontman and lyricist for the rock\u00a0band The Tragically Hip from 1984 until\u00a0his passing in 2017.\u00a0In August of 2016, Gord asked all Canadians to look at\u00a0the state of Indigenous-settler relations in this country\u00a0and to \u201cDo Something\u201d to change them for the better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Chanie Wenjack was born on January 19, 1954 on Marten\u00a0Falls First Nation, also known as Ogoki Post, a remote\u00a0Indigenous community located in Northwestern Ontario.\u00a0Chanie grew up in Ogoki Post for the first nine years of his\u00a0life with his parents, sisters and two dogs. At age 9, Chanie,\u00a0along with three of his sisters, were sent to Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School in Kenora, Ontario.\u00a0Children from 17 reserves in Northern Ontario and Manitoba attended Cecilia Jeffrey.\u00a0At the age of 12, Chanie ran away from the residential school, attempting to reunite with his family who were\u00a0600 kilometers away in Ogoki Post. \u00a0He would never make it home.\u00a0Chanie\u2019s body was found on October 22, 1966, a week after he fled. In his pocket was nothing but a little glass\u00a0jar with seven wooden matches. Chanie fell victim to Canada\u2019s legacy of colonization of Indigenous Peoples.\u00a0Gord Downie wrote the graphic novel and album\u00a0Secret Path\u00a0about Chanie’s journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On October 13, 2016, Gord and his brother Mike, along\u00a0with Pearl (Wenjack) Achneepineskum, and the Wenjack family, announced the founding\u00a0of the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund to\u00a0support reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. DWF is a part of Gord\u2019s legacy and\u00a0commitment to First Nations, Inuit and M\u00e9tis Peoples in Canada to continue\u00a0the conversation that began with the residential school\u00a0stories of Chanie Wenjack and thousands like\u00a0him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The\u00a0Secret Path\u00a0acknowledges a dark part of Canada\u2019s history \u2013 the long-supressed mistreatment of Indigenous children and families by the residential school system \u2013 with the hope of starting our country on a road to reconciliation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For more information visit: https:\/\/downiewenjack.ca\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As we commemorate National Indigenous History Month, Mixto.ca is very excited to work with the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund (DWF).\u00a0\u00a0Inspired by Chanie\u2019s story…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixto.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixto.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixto.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixto.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixto.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mixto.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":456,"href":"https:\/\/mixto.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454\/revisions\/456"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixto.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixto.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixto.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixto.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}