
Murray Sinclair at 2015 Indigenous Innovation Summit (Photo credit: Indigenous Innovation Summit Report)
“You will wonder whether it’s all worth it, whether you are capable, whether you have the strength, whether there’s anybody else out there that is going through what you’re going through, and whether you should just give it all up. I do ask you for this commitment and that is that we will do this again, and we will do it again, and we will do it again. Not so that we can get it right each and every time but that so we can check in with ourselves to remember the vision that we set and do not lose sight of that vision.”
This was the commitment Justice Murray Sinclair asked of younger generations at the 2015 Indigenous Innovation Summit in Winnipeg, organised by the National Association of Friendship Centres and partners including the McConnell Foundation. It is a commitment that he modeled, and from which we can all draw inspiration.
We are saddened to learn that Sinclair, husband, father, grandfather, former Senator, judge, and Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has passed away at the age of 73. His influence and the impact of his work cannot be overstated. His commitment to truth, public service, and human rights has had an impact across generations, and will continue to mobilise and inspire Canadians to act for reconciliation.
At McConnell, we take his words to heart as we continue our reconciliation journey. The living legacy of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and its 94 Calls to Action, as well as the Philanthropic Community’s Declaration of Action, inform the McConnell Foundation’s work with partners and communities.
“What I learned from the Honourable Senator Sinclair is that even though there are many challenges before us, we only fail if we quit,” says Brian Jackson (Anishinaabe & Cree, and member of Waswanipi First Nation) Program Director at the McConnell Foundation. “We will make mistakes along the way, but we have to keep trying, not only for ourselves but for those generations yet to come.”
Thanks to the leadership of the Honourable Murray Sinclair, the courage of Survivors of the residential school system, their families and their communities, the efforts of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Calls to Action, we can work for reconciliation.
“Like many other Canadians, I never had the opportunity to meet Senator Sinclair, but have been deeply inspired and touched by his humanity. On behalf of all of us at the Foundation, I express our deepest condolences to his family, community, and everyone affected by this loss,” says Jane Rabinowicz, CEO and President. “May his memory be a blessing, and may we honour his teachings and his legacy for many years to come. “