08/26/2026
Meet Michelle Gougeon, a Winnipeg teacher on a mission. For five years, she's used the Legacy Schools Program to bring Indigenous culture and the story of Chanie Wenjack into her Grade 7 classroom. She believes in "seamless" inclusion—making Indigenous perspectives a natural part of every subject. Her work is part of a larger effort supported by The Winnipeg Foundation, reaching thousands of students in our city.
The Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund (DWF) is inspired by both Chanie’s story, and a call by Downie, before his death in 2017, for everyone in Canada to improve Indigenous-non-Indigenous relations. Downie was the lead singer and songwriter for the iconic Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip.
The DWF, through its Legacy Schools Program, is helping teach cultural understanding to children from day care to high school in order to bring reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Currently, the Legacy Schools Program, in its ninth year of operation, has about 300 people in Winnipeg, who the DWF calls educators, inside 209 schools teaching 7,425 students. Across the country, the program reaches about 250,000 students with more than 10,000 educators in 7,500 schools. Besides schools, it also includes Girl Guides, Scouts and other organizations supporting youth and education.
Read this and other inspiring stories at www.wpgfdn.org
