Tanya Tagaq, Aysanabee and More Indigenous Artists Cover Gord Downie's 'Secret Path' For Its 10th Anniversary

Canadian artists have joined together to extend the legacy of Gord Downie's Secret Path.

The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund (DWGF) has released a playlist of Secret Path covers to YouTube, gathering twelve Canadian and Indigenous artists to cover songs from Gord Downie's 2016 album. The album called attention and supported reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples as the country's attention was on the beloved Tragically Hip frontman following news of his cancer diagnosis. The mission continues following Downie's death.

Métis singer-songwriter Amanda Rheaume, Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq, Canadian alt-rock band July Talk and more have reimagined songs from Downie's concept album, which was released in companion with a graphic novel by Jeff Lemire that tells the story of Chanie Wenjack, a 12-year-old Anishinaabe boy who died in 1966 after fleeing Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School in an attempt to return home.

Other artists in the playlist include London-based Mi'kmaq singer Drives the Common Man, Ojibwa electropop artist Wolf Saga, the Anishinaabeg drumming and choral singing group Nimkii and the Niniis, alt-rock Anishinaabe singer Thea May, the Canadian and Indigenous supergroup Reuben and the Bullhorn Singers, Oji-Cree singer-songwriter Aysanabee, singer-songwriters Julian Taylor and Natasha Fisher, Abénaki alt-folk singer-songwriter Mimi O’Bonsawin and Junkhouse frontman Tom Wilson.

Each of the album's ten tracks has received its own cover, with "Son" also translated into Anishinaabemowin by Nimkii and the Niniis and "The Stranger" receiving two distinct acoustic renditions by Amanda Rheaume and Reuben and the Bullhorn Singers. Tanya Tagaq and July Talk's cover of "Haunt Them, Haunt Them, Haunt Them" and Tom Wilson's rendition of "Here, Here and Here" feature previously unreleased footage of their performances at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto in 2019, which were part of the Secret Path Live fundraiser concert. It's the same venue where Downie performed the concept album live in full in 2016, with over 30 members of Wenjack's family in attendance, before passing away from brain cancer in 2017.

Honouring tradition, Secret Path will come to life onstage once again this month, as the DWF is hosting a milestone tenth anniversary concert for the album at the Concert Hall in Toronto on Oct. 23. Described as a "a special evening of music, reflection, connection, and celebration," the event will feature performances by many of the artists who recently covered the album's songs, notably Amanda Rheaume, Julian Taylor and Wolf Saga, who will play their own music as well as Secret Path and Tragically Hip songs. The event will feature DWF Artist Ambassadors and Indigenous vendors, with proceeds from ticket sales supporting the DWF's projects and initiatives.

Downie's Tragically Hip legacy, meanwhile, was recently celebrated at the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame 2026 gala at Toronto's Massey Hall.

Discover all of the Secret Path tenth anniversary covers here.