Chanie Wenjack

The National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations on Downie’s advocacy for Indigenous peoples and his continuing legacy

Being Indigenous isn’t all about DNA. It’s about who you claim, and who claims you.

Everything about it—the music, the film, the band, his performance—makes you want to pay attention

Artists of all stripes are creating new works to honour the little boy who ran away from residential school 50 years ago this month. Here’s why.

‘Chanie haunts me,’ Gord Downie says. ‘His story is Canada’s story.’ There are other stories, of course, which Maclean’s wants to tell

Two boys escaping a residential school followed tragically in the footsteps of Chanie Wenjack. Their story was forgotten. Until now.

A spellbinding account of Chanie Wenjack, the Anishinaabe boy who died escaping a residential school

With the full force of his influence, and with help from friends, Gord Downie may help Canadians see the dark legacy of residential schools

Chanie was 12, and Indigenous. He died as the white world’s rules had forced him to live—cut off from his people.