WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Murray Sinclair, a former First Nation judge, senator and chairman of the committee that looked into Canada’s troubled history of residential schools for First Nations students, has died. He was 73.
The father of five died peacefully Monday morning at a hospital in Winnipeg, Manitoba, according to a statement from his family.
Sinclair was the first Indigenous judge in Manitoba and the second in Canada. He also served as a senator from 2016 to 2021.
As leader of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he participated in hundreds of hearings across Canada and heard testimony from thousands of people who attended residential schools.
From the 19th century to the 1970s, more than 150,000 First Nations children were required to attend state-funded Christian schools as part of a program to assimilate them into Canadian society. They were forced to convert to Christianity and were not allowed to speak their native language. Many were beaten and verbally abused, and about 6,000 are said to have died.
The Canadian government apologized in Parliament in 2008 and admitted that physical and sexual abuse in its schools was widespread. Many students recalled being beaten for speaking their native language. They also lost contact with their parents and customs.
The commissioners released their final report in 2015, describing what took place at the institutions as cultural genocide.
Murray was awarded the Order of Canada in 2022, one of the country’s highest honors, for dedicating his life to advocating for the rights and freedoms of Indigenous peoples.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau honored Sinclair for his role as head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. “He challenged us to confront the darkest parts of our history – because he believed we could learn from them and become better from them,” Trudeau said.
Sinclair was born in 1951 and grew up on the former St. Peter’s Indian Reserve north of Winnipeg. He was a member of Peguis First Nation. In 1979, Sinclair graduated with a law degree from the University of Manitoba.
He was a judge for a total of 28 years.
In his memoirs, Sinclair described living with congestive heart failure. He has been in hospital for the past few months.
