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Grade 4-7
Subject Arts Education, Music
Resource type Handbook/Resource guide
Duration 60 minutes

About This Resource

"Secret Path" was written by Gord Downie and illustrated by Jeff Lemire and illustrates the hardship and history of residential schooling in Canada . This book was inspired by an Anishinaabe boy named Chanie Wenjack who ran away from his residential school in 1966 and died on the way to his home with the Marten Falls First Nation. The story is a graphic novel accompanied by a soundtrack written by Downie, and was released in October of 2016. The release of the book was followed by an hour long special on CBC that tells the story in animation with the soundtrack. All of the proceeds from the book, album, and performance will go to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. Here are some ideas for centres/stations that could compliment the use of Secret Path as a resource in text, soundtrack and film forms. The book has immense possibilities and because of its graphic novel form it could be adapted to suit the needs (and appropriateness) of a variety of grades and subjects.
Secret Path- Gord Downie (resource and literacy centres)