'It feels heavy': Gord Downie's brothers speak about their loss

CTVNews.ca Staff</span>
Published Friday, October 20, 2017 12:14PM EDT
Last Updated Friday, October 20, 2017 5:51PM EDT

Patrick and Mike Downie say that the outpouring of support over the loss of their brother Gord Downie has been “unbelievable.”

“There’s no denying who he is and how large he is in this country,” Patrick Downie told CTV’s Chief Anchor Lisa LaFlamme in a sit-down interview Friday.

Watch the full interview tonight on CTV National News at 11 p.m.

“But it does make it harder,” he added. “He’s kind of everywhere right now, and you feel that. And it feels heavy.”

Mike Downie, who also sat for the interview at Toronto’s famed Horseshoe Tavern, says that Gord would have appreciated a public memorial and the family hopes to organize one.

But first, they are gathering for their own private memorial on Friday night.

In addition to his brothers, Gord Downie left behind four children.

The Tragically Hip front man revealed last spring that he had been diagnosed with the deadly brain cancer glioblastoma. Rather than slowing down, he undertook a 15-show national tour that gave fans another chance to hear songs like “Bobcaygeon,” “Ahead By a Century,” and “New Orleans is Sinking.”

Downie also spent his final months collaborating with his brother Mike on "Secret Path" -- an album, graphic novel and animated film about Ojibway boy Chanie Wenjack, who died after escaping a northern Ontario residential school in 1966.

“Secret Path” was part of his work as an advocate for reconciliation with Indigenous people. It won three Junos, a Polaris Prize nomination and was honoured by the Assembly of First Nations.

Fans mourning Gord Downie will also have the chance to see him in the documentary “Long Time Running” when it’s streamed commercial-free on CTV.ca and the CTV GO app on Friday evening.

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