Gord Downie to donate proceeds from new project, ‘Secret Path’ to University of Manitoba

WINNIPEG — The Tragically Hip’s frontman, Gord Downie and the University of Manitoba are joining together for a unique project.

On Friday, Downie announced he would donate proceeds from his upcoming project, titled, “Secret Path”,  to help the university’s National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) to honour the stories of residential school survivors.

READ MORE: Gord Downie to release new solo album ‘Secret Path’ dedicated to dead First Nations boy

The new solo album is dedicated to a 12-year-old Ojibway boy, Charlie ‘Chanie’ Wenjack who died from hunger and exposure in 1966 trying to escape from a residential school near Kenora, Ont.

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“I am trying in this small way to help spread what Murray Sinclair said, ‘This is not an aboriginal problem. This is a Canadian problem,’” Downie said in a statement.

READ MORE: Who was Chanie Wenjack? The First Nations child behind Gord Downie’s new solo album

The announcement of the funding came following a visit by Gord Downie and NCTR director Ry Moran to the Ogoki Post Thursday. This is where Wenjack’s home community was in northwestern Ontario and where he was laid to rest.

“At its heart this is a story about a young child who had been taken away from his family, was held there at the school and felt like he had no other option but to run away and try to make it back to his home community which is 100’s of kms away,” said Ry Moran, NCTR director. “Things must have been pretty darn bad to take such a risk at such a young age.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "At its heart this is a story about a young child who had been taken away from his family, was held there at the school and felt like he had no other option but to run away and try to make it back to his home community which is 100's of kms away," said Ry Moran, NCTR director. "Things must have been pretty darn bad to take such a risk at such a young age."

Moran said Downie is helping to shed light on the important issue of residential schools and how all Canadians need to feel this moment.

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Wenjack was just a young boy when he ran away that late October day. He was wearing a light shirt and light pants and had just seven matches in his pocket. He froze to death on the side of a railway track.

“To have to run away and to have that strong of a desire to get home and then to die in the process is so sad,” said Moran. “He left behind real people and his family still feels loss. The thing is there are families like him all across the country that have lost kids to residential schools.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "To have to run away and to have that strong of a desire to get home and then to die in the process is so sad," said Moran. "He left behind real people and his family still feels loss. The thing is there are families like him all across the country that have lost kids to residential schools."

Donations will go into the “Gord Downie Secret Path Fund for Truth and Reconciliation” and will also support initiatives related to missing children and unmarked graves.

WATCH: Gord Downie announces release of solo album, novel

0:29 Gord Downie announces release of solo album, novel