HALIFAX — Five Halifax businesses have responded to Tragically Hip rocker Gord Downie’s call on corporate Canada to do more to promote dialogue and reconciliation with Aboriginal people.
The Legacy Room initiative, part of the Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund, announced the locations Friday including a Halifax private school, a university, an accounting firm, a restaurant and a development firm.
Charlene Bearhead, co-chairwoman of the fund, says the spaces will encourage conversations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples and raise awareness of the legacy of residential schools.
The five Halifax locations join three legacy rooms established in Ontario and aboard the Canada C3 ship, bringing the total to nine rooms across the country.
The host of each Legacy Room has committed to an annual donation of $5,000 over the next five years, which will go towards grassroots reconciliation programs to support healing and recovery.
The fund honours 12-year-old Chanie Wenjack, who died in 1966 after running away from a residential school near Kenora, Ont.