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EDITORIAL: Gone with grace, too

It’s not often that we reserve this editorial space to be an obituary for an artist. But then not every artist is Gord Downie.
Downie

It’s not often that we reserve this editorial space to be an obituary for an artist. But then not every artist is Gord Downie. The lead singer of the Tragically Hip and troubadour laureate of Canada died this week after a very public illness with a brain tumour.

The flag above Parliament Hill’s Peace Tower has been lowered to half-mast until his funeral. The prime minister wept Monday when he addressed the media about “our buddy Gord,” saying “We are less as a country without Gord Downie in it.”

But we’d argue we are more of a country for having had Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip. Downie took his inspiration right from soil and the history of the nation. In every province, the Hip were the soundtrack to a weekend at the lake. Downie’s lyrics were borrowed liberally for high school valedictorian speeches. Everyone’s got a story about the time they saw Downie’s birdlike strut on stage.

He was also an activist who used his goodwill to demand action from our government to achieve real reconciliation with Canada’s Indigenous people.

Last summer, hundreds of local folks gathered in a North Vancouver parking lot to watch the Hip’s final show, broadcast across Canada. It’s surely now a touchstone of Canadian culture on a level with Paul Henderson’s goal or Terry Fox’s hobbled gait. There were sound issues at the start and people got a bit cranky, but Gord did for us that night what he’d done so well since Up to Here debuted in 1989. He brought us together and nothing could be more hip, or more Canadian than that.

It’s our turn now to borrow one of Gord’s lyrics: “Heaven Is A Better Place Today.”

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