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Murray Sinclair was a great Canadian, a great Manitoban, a great Anishinaabe.
His career stands as a legacy of public service and a deep commitment to truth, fairness and dignity for all people.
He was the first Indigenous person to be named to the Manitoba provincial court and the Court of Queen’s Bench of Manitoba. He was the first, but he will be remembered as one of the best.
He was appointed co-commissioner of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry, which laid bare systemic racism within the justice system and is considered a foundational perspective on the system’s relationship with Indigenous people. He led the Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Inquest and his report spurred systematic change in the delivery of pediatric cardiac care in our province.
The penultimate moment of his career was his work as chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. He approached a process that could have been divisive and instead transformed it into Calls to Action for the future of our country, helping all Canadians to learn to walk together into a future of respect and understanding where we live up to the phrase residential school survivors taught us – Every Child Matters.
It will be a long time before our nation produces another person the calibre of Murray Sinclair. He showed us there is no reconciliation without truth. We should hold dear in our hearts his words that our nation is on the cusp of a great new era and we must all “dare to live greatly together.”
On behalf of the people of Manitoba, I extend my condolences to his family and to all Canadians for the loss of Mazina Giizhik.
A sacred fire will be open to the public on the north side of the legislative building grounds until Murray Sinclair’s funeral later this week.
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