RVH unveils its new Downie-Wenjack fund legacy space

Barrie, Ont. -

Barrie's Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) is Canada's first public health care centre to install a legacy space.

"It's important to make this space so when Indigenous people walk through the doors, they see that space, and they feel comfortable and safe," said RVH Indigenous patient navigator Roberta Manitowabi-Roote.

The installation revealed on Wednesday will become a fixture in the atrium outside of RVH's cancer centre, although it is mobile and could be moved throughout the hospital.

The initiative offers a place for people to have the opportunity to learn about Indigenous history, and was started by Dr. Matt Follwell, RVH chief of oncology, to educate staff and visitors and help break down barriers and move towards reconciliation.

"I think it's a start," he said. "I think there is a long way for us to go both in our staff education and changing how the system works and how our Indigenous population can access it," Follwell added.

The hospital said it's committed to ensuring Indigenous patients and their families have the best experience through cultural competency training courses, the development of a smudging policy, and the creation of the healing circle garden.

The new initiative is part of a program created by the Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack fund.

"This is perhaps the most important step forward for the Legacy Space program to be in a health care setting and especially in an area with one of the largest Indigenous populations of patients and visitors," said development associate Kayleigh Jordan-MacGregor.

The installation tells the story of Chanie Wenjack, a 12-year-old boy who died fleeing an Ontario residential school.

The Tragically Hip's Gord Downie stumbled upon Wenjack's story and wanted to use his platform to raise awareness.

"Gord started by writing 10 poems and those poems became the Secret Path songs on the album, along with a graphic novel and animated film," said Jordan-MacGregor. "With the blessing of the Wenjack family, we use those as a learning tool."

The unveiling also falls during Secret Path Week, a national movement commemorating the legacies of Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack.