Secret Path is a ten song concept album and book which tells the true story of Charlie Wenjack, an Indigenous boy who died 50 years ago in flight from the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School near Kenora, Ontario. He was walking home to the family he was taken from, over 400 miles away.

First Pressing

THIS ITEM IS ON HAND. I WILL SHIP NEXT BUSINESS DAY! NOT A PRE-ORDER OR PRE-SALE!

Includes:

180 g (x oz.) vinyl Lemire’s 88 page graphic novel 10 lyric posters Custom box packaging Album download

Singer, Songwriter and poetic improviser Gordon Downie is one of Canada’s most treasured artists. Following the The Tragically Hip’s historic farewell tour, the legendary Kingston Ontario band’s iconic frontman releases the monumental Secret Path – an album produced by Kevin Drew and Dave Hamelin, and a graphic novel illustrated by popular comic artist Jeff Lemire.  Through the telling of the true story of Charlie Wenjack, Downie sets outs to change the course of Indigenous reconciliation in Canada. 

Gord Downie:

"Chanie, misnamed Charlie by his teachers, was a young boy who died on October 22, 1966, walking the railroad tracks, trying to escape from the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School to return home. Chanie’s home was 400 miles away. He didn’t know that. He didn’t know where it was, nor how to find it, but, like so many kids—more than anyone will be able to imagine—he tried.

Chanie’s story is Canada’s story. We are not the country we thought we were. History will be re-written. We are all accountable. Secret Pathacknowledges 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 our country on a road to reconciliation. Every year as we remember Chanie Wenjack, the hope for Secret Path is that it educates all Canadians young and old on this omitted part of our history, urging our entire nation to play an active role in the preservation of Indigenous lives and culture in Canada.

The next hundred years are going to be painful as we come to know Chanie Wenjack and thousands like him—as we find out about ourselves, about all of us—but only when we do can we truly call ourselves, “Canada.”

Collector Box Set: Genuine First Pressing. Don't miss out and have to settle on Second or Third pressing. First pressings only increase in value. Very limited number available.