I join the chorus of tributes to the Honourable Justice Murray Sinclair from coast-to-coast-to-coast and offer my condolences to his family on behalf of our entire RRC Polytech community.  

Justice Sinclair’s traditional name, Mazina Giizhik, means the One Who Speaks of Pictures in the Sky. I see a parallel between his traditional name and the determined work he did to help set Canada on a better path – a vision he had that others did not yet see.  

Our campus flags will fly at half-mast in honour of Justice Sinclair until his funeral later this week.   

Post-secondary education was among the countless communities, personal and professional, that Justice Sinclair served. He taught law at the University of Manitoba, he received honorary doctorates from 17 Canadian universities, and in 2001 accepted an Honorary Diploma from RRC Polytech.  

Decades later, in 2021, as we navigated COVID-19, and we prepared to launch a strategic plan with Truth and Reconciliation as one of its cornerstones, Justice Sinclair participated in a virtual session on Reconciliation in Post-Secondary Education as part of our annual RED Forum event.  

Kind, engaging, and insightful, he generously offered his wisdom to our faculty and staff.  

Justice Sinclair used truth to challenge systems that for generations used false narratives to deny Indigenous People their culture and language, opportunity, equality, and basic humanity.   

His tireless work helped those systems – including education – see the need for fundamental change. And he welcomed us all to walk the path of Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.  

I commend our college community for embracing this journey.  

Today, we are committed to growing Indigenous representation in our classrooms, in our faculty, staff, and administration, and in our campus culture. And we are working to foster a mindset of Reconciliation our graduates can take with them into the workplace and community.  

There is work to be done, however, we are on the right path. And for this we owe Justice Sinclair a debt of gratitude.  

In heart, in words, and in deeds, he embodied goodness.   

Miigwech,  

Fred