Marie Wilson remembers Murray Sinclair as a man who fought to bring Indigenous ways of knowing into Canada’s justice system and who loved his family.
Wilson served alongside Sinclair as one of three commissioners on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, from 2009 to 2015.
Sinclair, a lawyer and senator who led the TRC, died on Monday at the age of 73.
“He had an imposing presence, that magnificent, beautiful voice and he had a heart that was as big as the man himself,” Wilson said.
She first met Sinclair in Yellowknife where he was speaking after the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry, long before the two became commissioners. She recalled how Sinclair noticed a man listening and watching throughout his speech. He went up to the man and asked him what was the most significant thing he’d heard while sitting in the audience.
“The man looked at him and said, ‘It was watching and listening to all those people walk up to that microphone, look at you, and refer …