November 5, 2024 – It is with much sadness we mourn the loss of prominent Anishinaabe leader Murray Sinclair, Mazina Giizhik/The One Who Speaks of Pictures in the Sky, esteemed lawyer, judge, senator, and tireless advocate for truth and reconciliation.

We offer our heartfelt condolences to his family and to all those who were touched by his wisdom and kindness and his unwavering commitment to justice, dignity and respect for all people.

Murray was the first Indigenous judge in Manitoba and the second in Canada and a senator from 2016 to 2021.

In 2009, Justice Sinclair was appointed chair of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which led to a multi-volume Final Report released in 2015. The report contained 94 Calls to Action, calling upon all levels of Canadian society to commit to understanding the legacies of colonialism and to building a more respectful relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.

In recent years, he oversaw the inquiry into systemic racism within the Thunder Bay police and worked on the federal bill to enshrine aspects of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Justice Murray Sinclair passed away at the age of 73 in Winnipeg, Manitoba and is survived by his five children, five grandchildren and extended family.