We are saddened to hear of the passing of Murray Sinclair (known by his spirit name, Mazina Giizhik), the groundbreaking Anishinaabe senator and judge who served on the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry in Manitoba and led Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (“TRC”).
Through his work on the TRC, Sinclair participated in hundreds of hearings across Canada with residential school survivors and their family members, which cumulated in the issuance of the highly influential TRC Final Report and Calls to Action in 2015. The TRC’s Calls to Action were accepted by Canada and serve as actionable policy recommendations that acknowledge the history of residential schools and create systems to attempt to dismantle the systemic racism experienced by Indigenous peoples in Canada.
We honour Sinclair’s legacy and his tremendous contributions to the advancement of truth and reconciliation and Indigenous rights in Canada.
Image courtesy of Archkris, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons