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Tragically Hip to receive humanitarian award at this year’s Juno Awards

Junos to be broadcast from Toronto on May 16
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The Tragically Hip perform in Vancouver, Sunday, July, 24, 2016.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

TORONTO — The Tragically Hip will be toasted with this year’s humanitarian award at the 2021 Juno Awards.

The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences says it selected the Kingston, Ont. rock band for its “timeless music and philanthropic pursuits” that affected generations of people around the world.

Known to many Canadians as the musicians behind “Bobcaygeon” and “Ahead By a Century,” the Hip have helped raise millions of dollars for various social and environmental causes.

Among them, they’ve supported several charities, including Camp Trillium and the Special Olympics, and most recently sold face masks that raised more than $50,000 for the Unison Benevolent Fund, which provides counselling and emergency relief services to the music industry.

The Hip’s late lead singer Gord Downie was also part of the band’s final Canadian tour, which helped raise more than $1 million for the Canadian Cancer Society and the Sunnybrook Foundation. Downie died of brain cancer in October 2017.

The Hip will be presented with the honour as part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Junos, which will broadcast from Toronto on May 16.

Since first being presented in 2006, the humanitarian award has been given to artists that include Buffy Sainte-Marie, Sarah McLachlan, Rush and members of Arcade Fire.

The Hip’s members included Downie, Rob Baker, Johnny Fay, Paul Langlois and Gord Sinclair.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 24, 2021.