Even as a nonfan of the music - and these are songs that now rank with the national anthem on evergreen playlists of Canadiana - I respected, and even revered, Downie. They were, in the parlance, hosers - unabashedly Canadian and, ironically, not particularly hip, nor particularly interested in being hip.īut Downie. I liked a few songs, I loved one song in particular, but in general I always found them to be a little too bar-band for me, not as edgy or alternative as their Stateside grunge counterparts, or even other emerging Canadian bands of the era like Sloan. I can’t go any further without confessing: Back then, I was not a huge Tragically Hip fan. In their later years, they graduated into a kind of venerated touring ensemble, sort of like the Grateful Dead, but the apex of their impact was in the early ’90s.

The Hip (they are only and always referred to in Canada as the Hip) formed in Kingston, Ontario, in 1984.

Downie, who died last night at 53 after a protracted and public bout with brain cancer, was the lead singer of the Tragically Hip, a band that is iconic in Canada and mostly known outside of Canada for being iconic in Canada. The Governor General, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other dignitaries will attend Monday's event at Rideau Hall.It may seem hyperbolic to say that no non-Canadian can truly understand the importance of Gord Downie, because it is, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true. The Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers is a recent Canadian honour to recognize individuals who have brought benefit or honour to Canada. The Polar Medal recognizes extraordinary service to Canada's polar regions and the North. Meritorious Service Decorations are given in two divisions, military and civil, to celebrate Canadians who have performed an exceptional deed. Others include Indigenous artists, athletes and community activists. Wilton Littlechild, Senator Murray Sinclair and Marie Wilson, who served on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, are among the Meritorious Service Cross recipients. Storyteller Jacqueline Guest of Bragg Creek, Alta., will receive the Order of Canada along with Downie and Maracle. Monday's ceremony will honour 30 people in all, who will receive the Order of Canada, the Meritorious Service Decorations (Civil Division), the Polar Medal or the Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers. Thank you to everyone for their support.#OrderOfCanada /5NkzqGNRST- Indigenous leadership honoured We are honoured to be receiving the Order of Canada. The band tweeted out its gratitude Thursday at being appointed to the order, which is marking its 50th anniversary as one of the country's highest civilian honours.

Watch now: Gord Downie's The Secret Path.

The tour culminated in a concert in their hometown of Kingston, Ont., that was broadcast by CBC across the country.ĭownie later released Secret Path, a musical project that told the story of Chanie (Charlie) Wenjack, an Ojibwe First Nations boy who died in 1966 after trying to walk home from a residential school in Northern Ontario. The Hip performed a cross-Canada tour last summer following news that Downie had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. All five band members are being honoured for 'their contribution to Canadian music and for their support of various social and environmental causes.' The other members of the Tragically Hip - Rob Baker, Johnny Fay, Paul Langlois and Gord Sinclair - will be invested at a later date, Rideau Hall said. (Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres) Sylvia Maracle, the executive director of the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres, will be made an officer of the Order of Canada on Monday.

Tragically hip gord downie