Remembering The Honourable Murray Sinclair
The Lakehead University community mourns the loss of The Honourable Murray Sinclair - Chief Commissioner of Canada’s Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission - who passed away on November 4, 2024. He was a visionary leader who had the courage to call upon us to account for, and acknowledge, the wrongs Canada has committed against Indigenous Peoples and to begin the long process of healing.
The Honourable Sinclair was a member of the Peguis First Nation whose Anishinaabe name was Mazina Giizhik (the One Who Speaks of Pictures in the Sky) and Fourth Degree in the Midewiwin Society, a traditional healing and spiritual society of the Anishinaabe Nation responsible for protecting the teachings, ceremonies, laws, and history of the Anishinaabe. He achieved great things during his lifetime, and his death has created a void in Canada’s social and cultural landscape that cannot be filled.
“Murray Sinclair was a man of integrity, grace, and wisdom,” says Lakehead University Chair on Truth and Reconciliation Dr. Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux. “He lived his life in full view of those who most needed him, supporting and encouraging, while speaking directly to the atrocities of Indigenous incarceration, a failed child-welfare system, and the indignities of Indian Residential Schools. Murray Sinclair leaves an incredible legacy of change making, witnessing, and above all else, love. He was deeply respected by Indigenous peoples of Canada, his deeply resonant voice was heard from coast to coast to coast, and when he spoke, people listened. His courage, humour, and graciousness will be sadly missed.”
The Honourable Sinclair excelled in many roles throughout his life - he was the first Indigenous judge in Manitoba, the second Indigenous judge in Canada, a lawyer, a senator, a professor of law, co-chair of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba, and an impassioned advocate for social justice.
These roles were connected by his mission of helping Indigenous people reclaim their voices, histories, and dignity in the face of cultural genocide. He was also a powerful bridge between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples who was committed to fostering reconciliation, cooperation, and respect.
In an interview with the CBC in 2015, just prior to the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report, The Honourable Sinclair explained: “Education is what got us into this mess - and education will get us out - the use of education at least in terms of residential schools - is the key to reconciliation.”
We are deeply grateful that The Honourable Sinclair made time to serve as an advisor to Lakehead University, guiding us in our work to improve our strategic priorities, our Indigenous relationships, and our university.
He addressed our community several times, visited with our faculty and students, delivered important lectures, led discussions at Lakehead’s Bora Laskin Faculty of Law, and was present at the 2016 convocation ceremony for the very first graduates of our Faculty of Law, which has a mandate to teach Aboriginal and Indigenous law.
In 2021, Lakehead awarded The Honourable Sinclair an honorary Doctor of Laws. On this occasion, our students had the privilege of hearing his thoughts on how to embark on their path forward.
“One of the great challenges that we face as human beings growing up is to understand what our purpose in life is,” he said, “but in order to accomplish our purpose, we have to be unafraid to seek it out and to attain it.”
This was a challenge he himself rose to and, in the process, helped transform Canada as a nation.
His historic achievements earned him innumerable awards, accolades, and honours including two National Aboriginal Achievement Awards (now the Indspire Awards), a Meritorious Service Cross for his service on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, and the Mahatma Gandhi Prize for Peace from the Gandhi Foundation. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada in 2022 and a Member of the Order of Manitoba in 2024.
After retiring as a senator and returning to his law practice in 2021, he continued to have strong ties with northwestern Ontario. The Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) has noted that “Over the years, he has taken time to engage with NAN youth and facilitated opportunities for them to develop relationships with the Government of Canada.”
As we pay our respects, may we commit - each of us - to honouring his memory through action and change. Flags at both campuses will be lowered until Nov. 14, 2024.
The family of The Honourable Murray Sinclair has announced that “for those who wish to pay their respects, a sacred fire to help guide Mazina Giizhik’s spirit home has been lit outside the Manitoba Legislative Building. The family continues to welcome everyone to visit his sacred fire to make an offering of tobacco and send him your best wishes.”
If you’d like to honour and continue the work of this champion for human rights and reconciliation, please make a donation to The Murray Sinclair Memorial Fund at The Winnipeg Foundation.