Remembering Gord Downie

It’s been 5 years since we lost Gord Downie on October 17th, 2017 after his brave battle with brain cancer (better known as glioblastoma).

Gord Downie was the voice and face of Canadian rock, writing hit song after hit song for the better part of 4 decades.

Downie used his final months in 2017 to speak out in support of Indigenous people. After touring with the Tragically Hip was finished, Downie released Secret Path, a multimedia project that tells the tragic tale of 12-year-old Chanie Wenjack, who died of exposure and hunger in 1966 after running away from the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School in Kenora, Ont. Inspired by Chanie’s story and Gord’s call to build a better Canada, the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund (DWF) aims to build cultural understanding and create a path towards reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Learn more about the Downie Wenjack Fund HERE.

The Hip, won a total of 16 Juno awards, a record they hold exclusively. The band has also received a number of prestigious honours including the Order of Canada. The Hip are in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, an honorary fellowship with the Royal Conservatory of Music and a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame. There is even a street named after the band called “Tragically Hip Way” in Kingston, Ont.

That’s a lot of accomplishments in a great career and lifetime.