The students of Weyburn Comprehensive School took part in a “Walk for Wenjack” on Friday, to help raise awareness about the history of residential schools in Canada.
It was held as part of Secret Path Week, a national movement commemorating the legacies of Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack, and takes place annually from October 17-22. This is a meaningful week as Oct. 17th and 22nd respectively mark the dates that Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack joined the spirit world.
The first Walk for Wenjack took place in 2016 and retraced the steps of Chanie Wenjack, a 12-year-old Anishinaabe boy who died after escaping residential school and attempting to reach his family 600km away.
“Our student body has about 900 kids, so when we divided the 600 kilometres, it works out to about 700 metres to symbolically cover the distance that Chanie would’ve needed to cover to get home to his family,” explained WCS teacher Kyla Moffatt.
The first walk started at the Cecillia Jeffrey Indian Residential School in Kenora, Ont., and continued to Redditt, Ont., for a ceremony representing Chanie's final resting spot near Farlane, Ont. Since then, people across the country have hosted their own walk to educate and raise awareness of the true history and impact of residential schools.
When the late Gord Downie of the Tragically Hip heard the story of Chanie Wenjack, a boy who never made it home from residential school, he vowed to “Do Something.”
He created an album and art work about Chanie’s story, and Moffat noted that the story is studied by the Grade 10 students.
“Some of the students have seen the story in younger grades, and that’s great. We have other resources we use as well, but this week, we surrounded the facts of the story and videos of the ‘Secret Path’ story,” added Moffatt, noting principal Ryan Fowler also made an announcement Friday morning explaining what the walk was all about and why they were asking each student to walk at least 700 metres each, “in memory of all the kids who didn’t make it home.”
Teachers took their classes out at various times throughout the day Friday, some to the Comp track and others to the former Souris Valley grounds and back.
After consultation with the Wenjack family, the Downie Wenjack Foundation was created. The foundation calls on all people in Canada to use Secret Path Week to answer Gord Downie’s call to action, to “Do Something” by creating a “reconciliACTION” and furthering the conversation about the history of residential schools.
