Gord Downie died today, and while I’m quite sad that one of my favourtie artists that I grew up with is gone, I’m so happy that what he left us will live on. I’ll be perfectly honest, I don’t know much about Gord’s life. I know that he was married with a couple of kids all of whom he loved, I know that he had a great love of Canada and saw all of it as and how it could be.
Through his music I saw all that Canada is. How we are such an awesome nation that has so many diverse cultures woven together. Our generosity and inclusive nature will be something that carries us going forward but it is something that we have to nurture and protect. For me, listening to the music of The Tragically Hip (or “the hip” as most of us Canadians will call it) is a gateway to being Canadian. Every time I listen I can’t help but getting visions in my head of the great Rocky Mountains and the beautiful city of Vancouver beyond them. I think of the plains and how Edmonton for a number of years lead the Hockey world with Wayne Gretzy at it’s helm. I think about how incredible the views from Prince Edward Island are and how you can seem to see everywhere from the CN Tower in Toronto.
I like how Culturally diverse this great nation is. I like the fact that we have Quebec, a french speaking province which adds to our cultural diversity. I like that every major city that I’ve been to typically has many areas where you can see different cultures. we have so many festivals celebrating where we all came from that it’s hard to see them all. When I was little my family would often go out to Calgary for the Calgary Stampede, There’s Montreal’s Just for Laugh’s festival which is the international authority on comedy and the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) which has many premier movies as well as many moving documentaries.
The Film Industry itself considers this country to be an integral part of how it operates. I can’t count how many films and TV shows that have been filmed in one of our great cities, but I’m always excited when I can pick out a street that I walk down or have been to, knowing then that they made a major movie here.
We’ve put a lot of work into making sure that people who come here feel welcome. Some come here voluntarily, some not so much, but either way if they move to Canada I know that it’s our job to ensure that their transition was for a damned good reason. One of my favourite stories from last year, during the horrible fires that went sweeping through Alberta, was a group of Syrian refuges who had JUST moved to Toronto, hear about the fires and went over to help. THAT is the most incredible act we can see. A group of people who came from a war torn country willing to risk their lives for their adopted nation? That’s awesome.
This Country was also filled with hope. In 1980, when Terry Fox ran his Marathon of Hope, I’m not sure if he was anticipating that his run would inspire so many hundreds of thousands of school children (myself included) to run in the hopes that we could cure cancer. His legacy is one of hope.
We’re innovative. Back in 2008 Ryan Holmes who was living in Vancouver saw the emerging market of Social Media, and how many of the people were accessing multiple Social media channels at the same time, but frustrated be having to log into each one individually. He eventually created Hootsuite which is a single dashboard which can access all of your social media needs.
We’re competitive. Canada is well known for it’s dominance in Hockey, but what may not be as well known is what our players have done for the game. Hayley Wikenheiser has particularly carried the torch for Women’s hockey. While she and the rest of Team Canada took gold three times at the Olympics she would also travel to other countries to teach girls in other nations to play the game as well.
Gord saw all of this. All of our accomplishments and all of our potential and he put it all in his music. His love of Canada is obvious. I can only hope that we can repay him for the gifts that he gave us by living up to his example and being the best we can be. I am a proud Canadian and I do my best every day to live up to the Canadian Spirit that Gord Downey so clearly illustrated with his music.
We’ll miss you Gord! Rest easy knowing you did us proud.Today we’re all the Tragically Hip. We are all their songs, and all that they mean. Canada lost one of it’s finest sons.
I’ll be posting next week on more ways to Organize your Digital Life. I just felt that I should take a beat to recognize a great Canadian.
What do you think of Gord?
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