It took four years, but a Cobourg man is honoured his idea to raise money for the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund is going forward.
Drew Macklin had the idea of creating socks in honour of Downie, the lead singer of The Tragically Hip who passed away on October 17, 2017 at the age of 53.
Downie was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, but toured with the band throughout Canada in 2016.
Downie is described as one of the most influential and popular artists in Canadian music history.
Downie spoke about indigenous issues including the story of Wenjack.
Wenjack was an Anishinaabe boy born in Ogoki Post on the Marten Falls Reserve on January 19th, 1954. Wenjack fell victim to Canada’s colonization of Indigenous Peoples.
In 1963, at the age of nine, he was sent to the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential school in Kenora, Ontario. In 1966, at 12-years old, Wenjack ran away attempting to reunite with his family 600 kilometers away in Ogoki Post. Nine others ran away that same day, all but Wenjack were caught within 24 hours.
Wenjack’s body was found beside the railway tracks on October 22, 1966, a week after he fled. He succumbed to starvation and exposure.
Macklin said he’s a huge fan of The Tragically Hip and wanted to do something to raise money for that Downie/Wenjack Fund.
“Like many Canadians you’re driving down the 400 series highways, listening to The Hip and thinking about what they mean to you and what they’ve done for the Country. I thought about the socks and the scarf and the idea just came to me.”
“Gord wore socks around his neck on his final tour to keep his vocal chords warm.”
Macklin said his idea was to create a scarf that looks like socks, but the idea never really took hold.
Going back and forth with various design patterns, the socks were given approval for the Downie family and the Downie/Wenjack Fund.
A portion of the proceeds go to The Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund charity.
The colours are red, which is currently on the market and shortly there will be a gold and grey.
Macklin said there was a lot of “knocking on doors” and when they wouldn’t open he kept “prodding and prying.”
“Eventually you find a little in here and a little in there and once you get a warm contact that can introduce you to others its kind of a chain reaction.”
“Through the process, I met a number of people to help me take it to the finish line.”
When he received the go-ahead recently Macklin said he was “humbled and honoured.”
“I actually had a bottle of red Tragically Hip wine that I’d been saving since the process started and I had it over the holidays to celebrate finally achieving that goal.”
“I promised myself I’d take it as far as I could go and eventually it worked out.”
“So many of us shared the music growing up. We all have different upbringings in Canada, but we all kind of had the same soundtrack.”
The socks are for sale through Major League Socks at majorleaguesocks.com and will also be available at Chesler Shoes in Cobourg and G. Facey Clothing in Port Hope.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
