Joseph Boyden talks to Sudbury teachers about the legacy of Chanie Wenjack

Canadian author Joseph Boyden was in Sudbury Friday to speak with teachers from the Sudbury and District Catholic School Board about helping marginalized groups.

He says it's important to teach students about residential schools and reconciliation in a concrete way.

"It's really important that Canada knows its full history, not just the good parts."

The story of Chanie Wenjack was brought to Boyden's attention from his good friends, brothers Mike and Gord Downie. The latter being of Tragically Hip fame.

Chanie had fled the Cecilia Jeffery Residential School near Kenora, Ont. 50 years ago. He was trying to walk 600 kms back to his home of Marten Falls First Nation.

The boy was found dead on a set of railroad tracks just outside of town.

Mike Downie brought the story to Boyden after reading an article in an old 1967 magazine.

Gord Downie recently released a graphic novel and an album called Secret Path which documents the final journey of the 12-year-old Ojibwa boy.

Chanie's life and death are also the focus of a new novel, Wenjack by Boyden. He's authored such books as The Orenda and Three Day Road.

'I could hear his voice'

Boyden says Chanie's story impacted him.

"What a symbol he is for that idea of innocence, not just lost, but innocence violently taken away in Canada by the residential school systems," says Boyden.

He says he and Gord Downie both went to their own creative corners to work on their own separate projects. They both wanted their works to be released around the 50th anniversary of the boy's death.

Boyden says he fretted about how he was going to "get into the head of a little boy." However he says he looked at the one and only existing photo of Chanie.

"I could hear his voice. I could hear this little boy not wanting to be gone, wanting to still be around. So I began writing from his point of view, " says Boyden.

He admits writing the bigger picture of the plight of residential schools was difficult.

Boyden says he came up with writing from the point of view of a crow, an owl and a pike.

"What I can only explain it as is the Anishnaabe, the Ojibway Manitou, the spirits of the forest that were able to comment on the bigger picture; what Chanie wouldn't know."