Musician playing in Iqaluit has raised $5,000 for reconciliation so far on cross-country tour

Wayne Kaulbach is working with the Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund

Musician playing in Iqaluit has raised $5,000 for reconciliation so far on cross-country tour Published 2:16 pm Friday, July 17, 2026 When Wayne Kaulbach set out to play a concert in every province and territory across Canada, he originally planned on driving his Volkswagen Eurovan from Yellowknife to Iqaluit. After finding out no road access connected any of Nunavut’s 25 communities to the rest of the country, Kaulbach remained undeterred.

“I thought, ‘Oh, I should just be able to drive over to Nunavut.’ But yes, excuse my ignorance. I found out —

okay, so I got to fly there, and the the best flights were from Ottawa. So I just started in April in British Columbia, went up to Yukon, Northwest Territories, Alberta, crossed above the Great Lakes, came to Quebec, and then I came back to Ottawa,” Kaulbach said. He has raised $5,000 for the Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund so far on his tour, which pays for education about residential schools in elementary and high school classrooms.

Half of the money Kaulbach makes on his tour is going to the reconciliation charity. “We set a goal of $10,000. So 50 per cent of all venue money I make and tips goes directly to them.

So far we’re at $5,000, which is really nice. I’m confident that I’m gonna achieve that number, $10,000,” he said. A one-man Tragically Hip cover band, Kaulbach was inspired to raise money for reconciliation by the late frontman Gord Downie, who founded a charity with the Wenjack family.

Chanie Wenjack was an Anishinaabe boy who died from starvation after running away from residential school in Kenora, Ont., when he was 12. “I’ve always been a big Tragically Hip fan, and then in 2016, when they did that last tour, he [Downie] had brain cancer, and he was dying. He knew he was going to die, but he lent his voice to Indigenous activism.

He really wanted a better and healthier Canada for all of us,” Kaulbach said. After playing his first show at Black Heart Cafe on July 16 in Iqaluit, Kaulbach is also played at the Storehouse Bar and Grill on July 17 and NuBrew on July 18. Iqaluit is the first place where he’s had three shows in one city on his tour so far.

“The community has been really supportive, and the venues and the owners,” Kaulbach said. While in town, he hiked the Apex trail and has been meeting Iqalummiut since arriving on July 12. His cross-country tour has encountered a couple hiccups.

The Volkswagen Eurovan, where he sleeps while on the road, broke down in Smithers, B.C. “It’s great, but it has cost me $5,500 in repair bills so far. New alternator, steering rack, but I still love her. So she’s sitting in a Park ‘N Fly right now in Ottawa, waiting for me,” Kaulbach said.

After flying back south from Iqaluit, he plans to continue his tour to Atlantic Canada and then head west through the Prairies to pick up some shows on his way back home to Vancouver. Kaulbach has 20 shows listed on his website for this tour.