The public can pay their respects to late senator and judge Murray Sinclair, who chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, at a memorial service Sunday afternoon at the Canada Life Center in Winnipeg. The prime minister and governor general are also expected to attend. Other dignitaries also attended, along with Sinclair’s family and friends.
Earlier this week, the provincial and federal governments announced plans for a commemorative ceremony, to be held at an arena in downtown Winnipeg starting at 2 p.m. CT.
CBC will live stream the commemoration at cbc.ca/manitoba.
Sinclair, an Anishinaabe lawyer who was Manitoba’s first Indigenous judge and served as lead member of the residential school Truth and Reconciliation Commission and senator, died early Monday in Winnipeg at the age of 73.
Sinclair, a member of the Peguis First Nation, was born in 1951 on what was once St. Peter’s Reserve, just north of Selkirk. His spiritual name is Mazina Gizik, which in the Anishinaabemowin language means “one who speaks of pictures in the sky.”
On Saturday evening, the Prime Minister’s Office announced that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would attend the ceremony and give a speech.
Mary Simon, Canada’s first First Nations Governor-General, will also attend the service and give a speech, “paying tribute to Mr. Sinclair’s life and invaluable contribution to our country,” her office said in a Friday news release. Ta.
Government representatives and Mr Sinclair’s friends and family will also pay their respects to him at the ceremony.
There will also be musical performances by Red River Métis fiddler Morgan Grace, Peguis First Nation singer-songwriter William Prince, Cree and Salish musician Fawn Wood, and Auji-Cree singer-songwriter Isanabi. It is scheduled to take place.
Doors to the ceremony will open to the public at 1 p.m.
A book of condolences will be available at the memorial for people to sign.
Similarly, a book of condolences will be available to sign at the Manitoba Legislature and will be available Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Flags will be flown at half-staff at Parliament House in Winnipeg and Parliament House in Ottawa until the end of Sunday’s commemoration.
