In 2023, when the earthquake tragedy struck Turkey and Syria, Popalzai and his team raised and delivered more than $112,000 of donations for the survivors of the earthquake. Popalzai chose the name Project Hope as he believes that as a refugee when one is forced to leave their native country – they have nothing but a HOPE. It was a déjà vu for Popalzai as he was in a similar situation when his father (an artist) was forced to flee the Taliban due to receiving death threats in the year 2000. The initiative was created to assist the influx of Afghan refugees arriving in Canada. In 2021, when the world witnessed chaotic scenes of Afghans attempting to flee the Taliban from Afghanistan, Popalzai co-founded Project HOPE. In 2014, Popalzai moved to Toronto to become a police officer with the Toronto Police Service. Popalzai speaks, reads and writes in five languages. Popalzai graduated from Carleton University with a bachelor of arts in law (honours) and a masters in legal studies. At the age of 14 years old, Popalzai and his family fled the Taliban and immigrated to Ottawa, Canada. Downie’s work on indigenous issues led him to be honoured at an emotional Assembly of First Nations ceremony in December 2016, where he was given the Lakota spirit name, “He who walks with the stars.”Ī Detective Constable with the Toronto Police Service’s Homicide Unit, Mustafa Popalzai was born in Kabul, Afghanistan. The album was paired with a graphic novel and the creation of the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund, which aims to foster reconciliation. It told the story of 12-year-old Chanie Wenjack, who died of exposure after escaping a residential school. After the tour, Downie released his fifth solo album, The Secret Path, in September 2016. The band continued to produce music in the 2000s, and Downie has also done solo work, with his latest solo album, Introduce Yerself, set to be released on October 27.Īfter his terminal cancer diagnosis in 2016, Downie and the Hip set off on an emotional cross-country farewell tour that ended with a big show in his hometown of Kingston, Ontario.ĭownie was also known for his humanitarian and charity work. So my function in anything I do is to help bring people closer in.” That stuff doesn’t interest me and I don’t even know if I could write that if I tried because I don’t really feel it. “Nor have I written any pro-Canada lyrics, any kind of jingoistic, nationalistic cant…. “I haven’t written too many political lyrics,” he said in an interview with the Canadian Press in 2014. But, somehow, it seemed to capture the pulse of a generation of Canadians in the band’s heyday. The Hip was often described quintessentially Canadian, although its music wasn’t political or even necessarily about Canada. So who was he and what is his music about? Downie was one of Canada’s most revered singer-songwriters, often called a poet, producing many 1990s hits including “New Orleans Is Sinking,” “Blow at High Dough,” “Courage (For Hugh MacLennan),” “Ahead By a Century” and “Bobcaygeon.” In a statement to the public announcing his passing, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau couldn’t hold back his tears as he said Canada will be “less” without Downie. Today, October 18, 2017, the nation mourns the passing of its lead singer, Gord Downie, of cancer. As a new Canadian, you may not have heard about the rock band the Tragically Hip - aka, the Hip - before immigrating to Canada.
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