Ever since hearing Jesus Christ Superstar in 1993 I've wanted to do a Rock Opera.  My first attempt didn't work out and I ended up using the musical material for The Butterfly Plague.  Years later, I tried again and realized that my issue was the lyric writing. I didn't think my own style of obscure overly dramatic moody lyrics were suitable. So I put an ad online and found Barry Brown. After an afternoon of discussion he showed me a few titles and ideas. One was “Rabbit Proof Fence”. I thought it was a weird and quirky title and Barry mentioned it was a movie about Indigenous People from Australia. I looked it up, borrowed it from the library and was horrified at the story of the Government taking away children to be raised as “White” in church/state run schools. After some more research, we discovered that this was not an isolated event. Many first world countries including Canada did this. On a similar note, in Ireland there was the Magdalene Laundries where girls and young women deemed to be not normal, were forced into working and adapting to the Catholic faith. This was faithfully shown in the movie “The Magdalene Sisters”. Not only was this an Aboriginal issue, it was a children’s issue, and a human rights issue.
We thought this would be a compelling story, one which needed to be brought to the forefront of knowledge so that it would never happen again.

Wilton

The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund (DWF)

Due to the subject matter of our Rock Opera, we felt it appropriate and necessary to donate a portion of our music sales to the Downie Wenjack Fund (DWF). 


“The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund (DWF) is part of Gord Downie’s legacy and embodies his commitment, and that of both the Downie and Wenjack families, to call Canadians to learning and action in solidarity with Indigenous peoples of this land. The goal of the fund is to continue the conversation that began with Chanie Wenjack’s residential school story, and to support the reconciliation process through awareness, education, and action”.
(The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund website)

For more information, please visit https://www.downiewenjack.ca