Murray Sinclair, an Anishinabe senator and prominent Manitoba lawyer who led the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, has died at the age of 73.
Sinclair died “peacefully, surrounded by love” at a Winnipeg hospital early Monday morning, his family said in a statement.
“Majina Gizik (The Painter in the Sky) dedicated her life to serving the people by creating change, uncovering truth, and leading with fairness throughout her career,” the statement said.
“The impact of our father’s work spread throughout the country and around the world. From boarding school survivors to law students to those who sat across from him in court, he always made sure to He was known as an exceptional listener who treated others with dignity and respect.
“We know that his story of kindness, generosity and fairness will spread for generations to come.”
Sinclair was born on January 24, 1951, just north of Selkirk, on what was once St. Peter’s Reserve.
A member of the Peguis First Nation, he was raised by his Cree grandfather, Jim Sinclair, and Ojibway grandmother, Catherine Sinclair, after his mother died of a stroke. Both of his grandparents had to attend boarding school.
Sinclair said: 2021 Gladue Community Justice Forum The first language he spoke at home was Cree. He said that just before he started school, his grandmother told him that he had to stop speaking the language inside and outside the house.
“I grew up in a household that denied me being Aboriginal and denying my Aboriginal identity,” he said.
“In fact, we were brought up to believe that nothing our culture offers us or our people, nothing we offer as a nation is of value; We were raised to believe that it was our duty. In fact, we were raised to believe that it was our duty to overcome our Indianness. .”
Sinclair was an excellent student, skipping two grades on his way to graduating from Selkirk College, a public high school, as valedictorian and player of the year in 1968. He attended the University of Manitoba for two years, but deferred his studies to care for his family. his sick grandmother;
After returning home, Ms. Sinclair worked with the Selkirk Friendship Center to help provide services to Indigenous people living outside the reserve. By 1971, he became regional vice-president of the Manitoba Métis Federation.
In 2021, Mr Sinclair said his work in Selkirk inspired him to want to help Indigenous people who are treated unfairly under the law and are overrepresented in the justice system.
“I knew that the way things were was not the way things were supposed to be,” he said.
Returning to academic studies in 1976, Sinclair attended the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Law, where he once again achieved academic distinction by winning the AJ Christie Award in Civil Procedure. He graduated in 1979 and was called to the bar in 1980.
Years later, Mr. Sinclair looked back on his early career as a lawyer and said he “loved the courtroom” and attended it whenever possible, even when he wasn’t participating in a trial.
“My career ambitions were primarily in the field of politics. When I was in law school, it was to become a politician,” he said in 2021.
However, he became disillusioned with the judicial system. On one occasion early in his career, a judge mistook him for a defendant and asked him to state the charges against him.
Believing that justice for Indigenous peoples could not be found in Canadian courts, Sinclair considered quitting law and abandoning his political ambitions.
Mr Sinclair said his wife convinced him to seek advice from the community before quitting. He later recalled that long conversations with community elders helped him reacquaint himself with his Indigenous identity and decided to try again.
After years of building a reputation for balancing Canadian law with the First Nations legal system, Sinclair became deputy chief justice of the Manitoba courts at the age of 37. He was the first Indigenous judge in Manitoba and the second in Canada. Sinclair was appointed to the Bench of the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench in 2001.
In a 2019 interview with the Manitoba Law Review, Sinclair said judges often “overreach” and that “there were better ways to sentence.”
“When my appointment included the position of Chief Jury Judge, I thought that in that capacity I could contribute to changes in the system to ensure that it accommodates a more attractive approach to sentencing,” he said. added.
Mr. Sinclair told this review that part of his work was as co-chairman of Manitoba in 1988. Aboriginal justice research It was to highlight the need to consider the history of Indigenous offenders when making sentences.
The discussion ultimately Gladue principles In 1996, it required courts to consider Indigenous offenders’ backgrounds and prison alternatives when making sentences.
Chief Justice Murray Sinclair will discuss how the stories of boarding school survivors have impacted TRC commissioners and Canadians.
Sinclair remained the state’s ruler. Pediatric cardiac surgery hearing Before accepting the position of Chief Commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2009.
of Committee’s 2015 Final Report Documented the history and legacy of Canada’s residential school system in six volumes and over two million words.
After visiting more than 300 communities and speaking with more than 7,000 Indigenous men and women over six years, the commission concluded that Canada was committing an act of “cultural genocide.”
“For more than a century, the central goals of Canada’s Aboriginal policy have been to remove Aboriginal governments, ignore Aboriginal rights, end treaties, and ensure that Aboriginal people are treated as separate legal, social, and , as a cultural and religious entity, as a racial entity in Canada,” the final report states.
“The establishment and operation of boarding schools was a central element of this policy…”
Murray Sinclair, former chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, said Canada needs to move beyond National Truth and Reconciliation Day to focus on reconciliation.
On the advice of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Governor David Johnston appointed Mr. Sinclair to the Senate in 2016, making him Canada’s 16th Indigenous senator.
In 2017, Sinclair Investigation into Thunder Bay Police Service Commission To investigate allegations of systemic racism within the force.
After retiring from the Senate in 2021, Mr. Sinclair was appointed president of Queen’s University, a position he held until the end of his term on June 30, 2024.
Sinclair received many awards during his long career as a jurist and civil servant, including the Distinguished Service Cross and the Order of Manitoba. He was also named a Companion of the Order of Canada.
Sinclair and his wife, Catherine Morisseau-Sinclair, have five children, Misko, Niigaan, Dean, Gazik, and Jessica, and three grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, the family is asking anyone who can donate to the Winnipeg Foundation’s Murray Sinclair Memorial Fund.
For those who wish to pay their respects in person, a sacred fire was lit outside the Manitoba Legislature to guide his spirit home, his family said in a statement.
“Everyone is welcome to visit his sacred fire, offer a tobacco and wish him good luck,” the statement said.
His family is asking people across the country to respect his journey and refrain from lighting any more fires.
