'Trained our entire lives to ignore': Gord Downie's call to action for Indigenous in the North

People across the country are praisingTragically Hip frontman Gord Downie for usinghistelevised concert in Kingston, Ont., to campaign for Canada's North.

He also showed his esteem for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and called on the crowd to hold the PMto account.

"We're in good hands, folks. Real good hands," Downie said on Saturday, as the camera showed Trudeau in the crowd at the Rogers K-RockCentre, cladin a Hip T-shirt."He cares about the people way up north. That we were trained our entire lives to ignore."

Downietook two separate opportunities to address the need for decolonization.

• Tragically Hip's Gord Downie calls out to Trudeau during final show of tour

He called on the prime ministerto address Canada's historical mistreatment of its Indigenous peopleand to"get 'er done." He also asked the audience to hold Trudeau to account and commit to acknowledging and fixing the problems.

"What's going on up there ain't good. Itmay be worse than it's ever been," Downie said.

"You know, Prime Minister Trudeau's got me. His work with First Nations. He's got everybody. He's going to take us where we need to go."

The fact Downiespent time addressing the issue rather than something more expected raising money for cancer research touched many across the country.

And it turns out, it wasn't only Canada watching Saturday's concert.

According to CBC'sPiyaChattopadhyay, an hour into the show at least120,000people were streaming the concert online, including people fromTrinidad and Tobago, Kuwait, Laos, Bangladesh, thePhilippines, India, Australia, Japan and Mexico.

Fans were also watching in the States:

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