That night all there was to eat were two potatoes. Early the next morning the boys walked another half mile to the cabin of Charles Kells. The church services were over, and the congregations from Knox United Church and the First Presbyterian Church, which face each other at Second Street and Fifth Avenue, were spilling out onto the sidewalks. After four days with the Kellys, Wenjack left to follow the Canadian National Railway (CN) mainline, heading towards Ogoki Post, 600 km (370 mi) east and north from Kenora. This month marks the 50th anniversary of the death of 12-year-old Chanie Wenjack, who died on October 22, 1966 after fleeing Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School in northwestern Ontario. It is even doubtful if his father really understood either. She also gave him a plateful of fried potatoes mixed with strips of bacon. At the time, 150 students lived at the school. The temperature was between –1° and –6° C. It is not hard to imagine the hopelessness of his thoughts. He buried Charlie, his only son, in the tiny cemetery on the north shore of the Albany River. Next month will mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Chanie Wenjack. Yes, they were lonesome. Charlie’s father, grief-stricken, was bewildered and angry as well. At that time the staff were all new and still trying to match names to faces. Charlie was 12, and Indigenous. He died while trying to walk 600 km back home. If the worst comes to the worst you can always light a fire to keep warm. Charlie had more than half of northern Ontario to cross. The frontman of the Tragically Hip worked with Toronto illustrator Jeff Lemire on Secret Path, which includes an album, graphic novel and animated film. Once there, he was given the name 'Charlie'. Chanie Wenjack was a 12-year-old Anishinaabe child who died of hunger and exposure in 1966 when he ran away from a residential school in Kenora. HERITAGE MINUTES. He collapsed and died sometime on the morning of October 23 in a rock cut near Farlane. [1][2], On the morning of October 16, 1966, Wenjack and two school friends, orphaned brothers Ralph and Jackie MacDonald, ran away from the residential school, making it as far as Redditt, 31 km (19 mi) north of Kenora. Wenjack is a historical fiction novella based on the story of Chanie "Charlie" Wenjack by Canadian author Joseph Boyden.It was published by Hamish Hamilton of Penguin Books in 2016 and features illustrations by Cree artist Kent Monkman.It was part of a collaborative effort to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Chanie's death. Coroner Dr. Glenn Davidson determined the cause of the death was attributed to exposure and hunger. His death… Wikipedia. I told him to ask the sectionmen along the way for some food.”. There were no Indians on the jury. Nobody will know whether Charlie changed his mind about leaving or whether he wanted to see his friends one last time, but instead of striking out east along the railroad tracks, he walked north to Mud Lake, arriving at the cabin by the trapline before Kelly and his nephews got there in the canoe. The Kellys also had two teenage daughters to feed and Kelly, who survives on a marginal income from welfare and trapping, probably began to wonder exactly what his responsibility to Charlie was. He died of hunger and exposure at Farlane, Ontario while trying to walk 600 km (370 mi) back to his home, Ogoki Post on the Marten Falls Reserve. When they found Charlie he didn’t have any identification. Just two blocks west at Second and Matheson I walked into a hamburger joint called the Salisbury House. Sometimes they lose a leg or an arm trying to climb aboard freight trains. THE LONELY DEATH OF CHARLIE WENJACK Charlie was 12. View Full Article. Many others didn’t have a clue who Chanie was. This originally was published in the February 1967 issue of Maclean’s magazine. Even before Charlie ran away he was already running hard just to keep pace with the bewildering white world he had suddenly been thrust into. He was at one such school at the age of six when he broke his left arm. From “ The Lonely Death of Charlie Wenjack ”: “All Charlie had was a common windbreaker. It was one week after he escaped from the residential school and over 60km from where he started. Ojibwe artist and curator from M'Chigeeng First Nation, Ontario. Chanie’s story sparked national conversation about the standards and practices of Residential Schools. Unlike other Heritage Minutes that were narrated by actors, Wenjack's was narrated by his sister, Pearl.[6]. But Charlie didn’t ask anyone for anything. Boyden's superb text is accompanied by outstanding illustrations. In 1973, indigenous students at Trent University lobbied for a building to be named after Wenjack. The largest lecture hall on campus was subsequently named Wenjack Theatre in Wenjack's honour. TORONTO -- Fifty years since the untimely death of Chanie Wenjack, Joseph Boyden is part of a collective of Canadian artists bringing renewed attention to the indigenous boy's tragic story. The kid wouldn’t give me his name. It’s not so unusual that Indian children run away from the residential schools they are sent to. We did so with the blessing and support of the Wenjack family and Grand Council Treaty #3. And the jury was obviously moved. Secret Path Week is a national week to remember the death of Chanie Wenjack, a young Anishinaabe boy who died trying to run away from residential school and reunite with his parents. And perhaps because they are Indians, no one seems to care very much. I couldn’t let them run around in the bush. But if a snap was taken, nobody knows where it is now. The album, dubbed Secret Path, was released on October 18, 2016,[7][8] along with a concurrent graphic novel of Wenjack's story by novelist Jeff Lemire and an animated film which aired on CBC Television. “Chanie” was what his family called him.) Would they run away again? Nobody knows exactly when. He was an Indian. The year 2016 marks the 50th anniversary of Chanie’s death. In one of the photographs an Ontario Provincial Police sergeant is pointing down at Charlie’s body, where it lies beside the CNR track. All Chanie wanted was to go home, which was over 600 km away in Ogoki Post on the Marten Falls First Nation reserve. In his 50s, he is known as a good man who doesn’t drink and provides well for his family. He died as the white world's rules had forced him to live — cut off from his people. Charlie only knew “his dad lived a long way away. “We? His own parents kept him out of school for two years because another boy in the family died much the same way Charlie did. And during those 36 hours that Charlie walked, there were snow squalls and freezing rain. He died as the white world's rules had forced him to live—cut off from his people. On November 19, 2016, we set out from the former site of the Residential school and retraced the final journey of Chanie. . After spending more than two hours deliberating, they produced a written verdict and recommendations that covered one, long, closely written page of the official form. It also shows the resolve of a young boy to return to the normalcy of his home and family life. .I guess I’ll have to learn to keep my mouth shut. It is the exact spot where on the night of October 22 Charlie collapsed and died from exposure and hunger . . Published in October 2016, a novella by Canadian author Joseph Boyden focused on the suffering Wenjack endured and his state of mind during his ordeal. BUY DIGITAL MINUTE; BUY DVD; … He became lonely and ran away. 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