UM Faculty of Law remembers The Honourable Murray Sinclair, CC, OM, MSC

Senator, judge, advocate. Elder, mentor, teacher. Husband, father, grandfather. Murray Sinclair. CC, OM, MSC was many things to many people, and in everything he did, he did it with humility, conviction, and dedication. To the Faculty of Law at the University of Manitoba, he is the reason it has grown into the law school it is today. His legacy here has shaped the Faculty’s understanding of law as a living force for transformation, healing, and justice.

“As the first Indigenous judge in Manitoba and the second in Canada, his historic achievements have set a new course for inclusive leadership within the judiciary, showing us that law can transcend the confines of colonial control to become a foundation for a shared and equitable future,” said Dr. Richard Jochelson, Dean of Law. “We extend our deepest condolences to Justice Sinclair’s family and community and to all those who were moved by his profound life’s work. Justice Sinclair’s guidance will be ever present as we continue our journey of Reconciliation at the Faculty of Law.”

Dr. Lorna Turnbull who served as both Associate Dean (2005 – 2010) and Dean of Law (2010 – 2016), recalled the impact of her friend and colleague’s involvement with the law school. “Murray’s mentorship was fundamental to the important steps the law school took starting around 2005 to be responsive to the reality of being the only law school in a province with the highest proportion of Indigenous people,” she said. “He later agreed to take on the role of leading the creation of a Chair in Indigenous Law, saying “I am prepared to consider taking this role on. It is one of great significance and of personal importance to me.” A wonderful tribute to his work and his legacy in creating a more just world would be for us to see this come to fruition now.”

Sinclair was connected with the Faculty of Law since his law student days. “I went into law school to get into politics,” Sinclair told Dr. Bryan Schwartz in an interview for The Manitoba Law Journal in 2018. Having already worked for his MLA, Howard Pawley, for four years and having been involved with the Selkirk Friendship Centre and Manitoba Metis Federation, he felt getting a law degree would give him “instant credibility” in politics. “But, law school seduced me into law,” he admitted.

Cliff Edwards, late Dean of Law (1964 – 1979), would visit Sinclair following his graduation and talk about some of the work he was involved with in his legal practice. “The one thing that Cliff Edwards used to say … was that the importance of Indigenous people coming to law was not so that the law school could claim them, it was so that they could claim the law. In other words, this law does not belong to white people, we talked about that a lot,” Sinclair said in 2018. “If the law was going to be representative of people, then the people who it represented had to be here. He saw that as important, but he also saw it important that the law school have a social responsibility to the community, that it needed to work to overcome the history of law. The history of law is the history of racism – he knew that.”

Sinclair started law school during a turbulent time in the 1970s when several attempts had been made to address the treatment and state of social conditions of Indigenous people, none of which led to actual change.  Shortly after he started to practice law, dialogue which led to the Constitution Act of 1982 began, and Sinclair was involved in the middle of it all.

In the mid-1980s, Sinclair was asked to join the provincial court bench, but turned it down three times. “I was involved in some really interesting work that I didn’t want to leave behind,” he told Schwartz.

Ultimately, he accepted the appointment initially thinking he could serve on the bench for about a year, make his mark, and then return to ordinary legal practice, but a series of fateful events postponed that return for about 24 years. Sinclair told Schwartz, “I was sworn in on March the 3^rd, which was a Friday […] and then the following Tuesday, J.J. Harper was shot, the following Wednesday, the Pawley government was defeated in a vote of non-confidence, and the following Friday, they appointed the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry Commission.”

As one of the commissioners on the AJI, Sinclair realized the impactful role he would have in bringing about much-needed change in the justice system, specifically, in changing the way sentencing was done. “That was part of our work in the AJI, talking about the importance of taking into account the proper history that Indigenous people had come through.”

Sinclair then became Manitoba’s first Indigenous person to be appointed to the Court of Queen’s Bench in 2001, chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission starting in 2009, and served on Canada’s Senate from 2016 to 2021. Finally in 2022, he returned to practicing law at the Winnipeg firm of Cochrane Saxberg (now Cochrane Sinclair).

Reflecting on the future of law schools in the Manitoba Law Journal interview in 2018, the then-Senator observed that Manitoba was losing Indigenous law students to other provinces, partly due to a lack of recruitment, and a lack of having Indigenous scholars on Faculty demonstrating interest in and support for scholarly and academic work in Indigenous topics. “There’s a sense of connection to what the law school is committed to doing within Canadian society about the Indigenous community, perhaps more properly put, that makes them feel that they will be more welcome there than is the case here […] changing the perception of this law school among young Indigenous students would not be a big jump, but it’s an important one you haven’t made yet. It needs to be made,” Sinclair told Schwartz.

When working with the president of the University of Manitoba about its potential to be a place of excellence for Indigenous issues, it made sense to Sinclair to bring the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to the Fort Garry campus. Similarly, he said, “The law school should do the same thing and … communicate that desire, that commitment, and that effort to other students. It is not just Indigenous students that you want to attract here, it’s non-Indigenous students as well, that want to do work in Indigenous areas.”

In the past six years since Sinclair’s comments were recorded in the Manitoba Law Journal, the Faculty of Law at the University of Manitoba has implemented many changes to fulfill the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report’s Call to Action number 28, which calls upon “law schools in Canada to require all law students to take a course in Aboriginal people and the law, which includes the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, Indigenous law, and Aboriginal–Crown relations. This will require skills-based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and anti-racism.”

Turnbull recalled how Sinclair worked closely with the law school to integrate Indigenous perspectives and legal orders well before he left the bench to serve as Chief commissioner of the TRC. “He helped shape plans for raising the profile of the Faculty among Indigenous students, for fundraising, and for building a more inclusive curriculum,” she said. “He inspired students and Indigenous colleagues as a regular visitor and speaker at the Faculty during my tenure as Associate Dean and Dean, and even spoke to the Canadian Council of Law Deans about the imperative to incorporate education about Indigenous legal orders before the TRC was created.”

In 2021, the Dean’s Office formed a Truth and Reconciliation Action Team consisting of Indigenous members of the practicing bar, faculty, and students, and a newly hired Director of Indigenous Legal Studies and Services with whom to consult and advise on implementation of CTA 28. The Faculty was honoured to have Sinclair as part of this team. The Faculty also hired two new Indigenous Faculty members with an objective of hiring more academics with backgrounds and research agendas focused in this area of law. Currently, three Indigenous tenure-track professors and two Indigenous staff work at Robson Hall, along with at least four Indigenous practicing professional instructors who teach courses each year in addition to practicing law. An endowed chair in Indigenous law and economic reconciliation is also being planned.

The Director of Indigenous Legal Studies and Services, Robson Hall alum Marc Kruse [JD/15], conducted a curriculum review to ensure Indigenization of all courses offered in the Juris Doctor program, and was instrumental in the Faculty’s success in passing through Senate, a course on Indigenous Methodologies and Perspectives, which became mandatory for all second-year law students in 2023. “Justice Sinclair helped guide the creation of our mandatory course which is now taught to all second-year law students at Robson Hall, which I co-teach with our two new Indigenous faculty members Dr. Leo Baskatawang and Professor Daniel Diamond,” said Kruse

Kruse had the opportunity to work with Sinclair before applying for law school, while working with Sinclair as a student volunteer at the Legal Help Centre.  “He helped solidify my choice to attend law school and try to help the larger community,” he said. “I, like most Indigenous law students, have been and continue to be, inspired by the Honourable Murray Sinclair.”

Kruse recalled that after Sinclair was named Elder in Residence at Robson Hall, he gave his time to meet with the Indigenous faculty and students as the law school stepped into a new stage of Indigenous legal education at the University of Manitoba. “His passing will be difficult for all Canadians but especially those to whom he gave his time and guidance.”

We will continue on the path he set for us at Robson Hall and do our best to help move us towards a relationship of mutual respect between Indigenous Peoples and the rest of Canada.

Marc Kruse [JD/15] – Director of Indigenous Legal Learning and Services

Starting in the fall of 2023, the Faculty added the Cochrane Sinclair Indigenous Law Clinic to its roster of six experiential learning opportunities. Facilitated by the law firm of Cochrane Sinclair, law students are being trained to help members of the public to apply for pardons and for Indigenous Status. Land-based learning is also becoming a part of the JD curriculum for all law students.

Since 2023, an annual conference has been held in support of the Interdisciplinary Journal of Indigenous Inaakonigewin to foster the collaboration and growth of the study of Indigenous Legal Orders. 

Starting in August of 2022, the Faculty of Law announced two Elders-in-Residence, including Sinclair, and Wendy Whitecloud a retired law school instructor, student advisor, and commissioner on the Aboriginal Justice Implementation Commission.

Looking back on Sinclair’s influence on the Faculty of Law, Jochelson said, “Justice Sinclair’s vision of law as a pathway toward a reimagined future—one that values mutual respect, healing, and shared purpose—continues to inspire our Faculty. He has shown us that law can be more than a means of control or colonization; it can be a space for transformation, woven from the diverse aspirations of all people. His teachings are embedded in our future, guiding us to advance his work and bring forth the shared, compassionate world he envisioned.”

Story submitted by Faculty of Law