The Tragically Hip was One of Canada’s Most Talked About Events

Published on: 2016/12/12 - in Entertainment Featured

Facebook has published its annual list of the most talked about events and trends around the world and The Tragically Hip was rated one of the most discussed in Canada by the social networking site.

This year, the country was talking about many of the same things as the rest of the world – including the U.S. Elections, Pokemon Go, the Olympics, Rodrigo Duterte & Philippine Presidential Elections – and Gord Downie and The Hip was the 5th most talked about in Canada during 2016.

Following the announcement of Downie’s cancer diagnosis, the group launched a summer long tour across Canada that dominated national and local news before culminating in a nationally televised concert at Kingston’s K-Rock Centre that was watched around the world.

Gord Downie has continued to perform and involved himself with projects close his heart.

He continued his Secret Path project that was initiated years ago as ten poems inspired by the story of Chanie Wenjack, a twelve year-old boy who died in 1966, while fleeing from a Residential School and attempting to walk home to his family over 400 miles away. Gord turned those poems into the ten songs of Secret Path which were recorded at the Bathouse Studios in nearby Bath, Ontario in 2013.

The ten song digital download album was released in October as part of an eighty-eight page graphic novel illustrated by Jeff Lemire and available for purchase online. Downie has performed in support of Secret Path with concerts in Toronto, Ottawa and Halifax.

And earlier this month, Gord Downie was honoured at the Assembly of First Nations for his work highlighting the impact of residential schools. He was presented with an eagle feather, a gift from the creator, and given a Lakota spirit name: Wicapi Omani, which roughly translates as “Man who walks among the stars.

The full list of Canada’s top 10 most talked-about events on Facebook in 2016 were (in order):

US Elections
Fort McMurray wildfire
Blue Jays
Pokemon Go
Gord Downie & The Tragically Hip
David Bowie
Rodrigo Duterte & Philippine Presidential Elections
Toronto Raptors
Brexit
Olympics

To see the world’s most talked about events and trends, as well as Canada’s top Facebook Live videos, check out this MobileSyrup article.


Photo: Scott Alexander via Wikipedia