Justice Murray Sinclair, the Anishinaabe judge and senator who led the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, has died at the age of 73. 

Sinclair was born and raised in Manitoba, where he attended law school and began his legal career. At 37 he was made the province’s first, and only Canada’s second, Indigenous judge. 

After years of building a reputation as one of the country’s most brilliant legal minds, he went on to be appointed as the chief commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2009. He visited over 300 communities and spoke with over 7,000 residential school survivors before releasing the Commission’s final report in 2015. In 2016, Sinclair was appointed as Canada’s 16th Indigenous Senator where he served until his retirement in 2021. 

Sinclair was also a member of the national advisory panel for the Jarislowsky Network of Chairs in Trust and Political Leadership, for which Acadia was the first to receive a Chair. 

Inuit Elder Piita Irniq, who recently visited Acadia to build an Inukshuk, worked closely with Sinclair on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. “He had a great deal of love and compassion, caring and respect for Indigenous people,” Irniq said in a conversation with CBC, “because he worked very hard for the Indigenous people, as well as our parents, who were left behind when we were forcibly taken away by the church and the government of Canada.” 

Sinclair was a firm believer in the importance of education as the key to reconciliation. He famously said, “Education got us into this mess and education will get us out of it.” In 2021, Sinclair was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Acadia University. In his remarks on the occasion, he encouraged his fellow graduates to look hard for, and take advantage of, the opportunities ahead of them that their education will provide. He said, “when you look back at your life, you’re going to say to yourself, ‘I’m sure glad I did that.’” 

“The passing of Senator Sinclair is a devastating loss for all of Canada,” says Zabrina Whitman, Executive Advisor, L’nu Affairs and Indigenization. “As the chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he opened Canadians eyes to a dark history that many were unaware of. He understood that reconciliation is hard, but for a better Canada we all have a role to play. In honouring his advocacy and the children who never had a chance to come home, we have a duty more than ever for reconcili-action. To his family, we offer prayers on his passing to the spirit world.”